The Framers were deeply read in the facts of history; they were learned in the forms and practices and systems of the governments of the world, past and present; they were, in matters political, equally at home in Rome, in Athens, in Paris, and in London; they had a long, varied, and intense experience in the work of governing their various Colonies; they were among the leaders of a weak and poor people that had successfully fought a revolution against one of the great Powers of the earth; there were among them some of the ablest, most experienced and seasoned military leaders of the world.

As to all matters under consideration by the Convention, the history of the world was combed for applicable experiences and precedents.

The whole training and experiences of the colonists had been in the Common Law, with its freedoms and liberties even under their kings. They knew the functions of legislative, executive, and judicial arms of government.

Source: President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
General Conference, April 1957

Topics: US Constitution

“And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.”

Source: Mark 3:24

Topics: Government

Federalist No. 1

Introduction to the Constitution and the Federalist Papers:

AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.

Topics: Federalist Papers

Federalist No. 2

Should the States create one Nation, or several Confederacies?

It has until lately been a received and uncontradicted opinion that the prosperity of the people of America depended on their continuing firmly united, and the wishes, prayers, and efforts of our best and wisest citizens have been constantly directed to that object ...

This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties ...

I sincerely wish that it may be as clearly foreseen by every good citizen, that whenever the dissolution of the Union arrives, America will have reason to exclaim, in the words of the poet: `FAREWELL! A LONG FAREWELL TO ALL MY GREATNESS.’

Topics: Federalist Papers

First reason for a United America: Safety

The number of wars which have happened or will happen in the world will always be found to be in proportion to the number and weight of the causes, whether REAL or PRETENDED, which PROVOKE or INVITE them. If this remark be just, it becomes useful to inquire whether so many JUST causes of war are likely to be given by UNITED AMERICA as by DISUNITED America; for if it should turn out that United America will probably give the fewest, then it will follow that in this respect the Union tends most to preserve the people in a state of peace with other nations.

Source: Federalist No. 3

Topics: Federalist Papers

Federalist No. 4

Dangers from foreign force and influence

“But the safety of the people of America against dangers from FOREIGN force depends not only on their forbearing to give JUST causes of war to other nations, but also on their placing and continuing themselves in such a situation as not to INVITE hostility or insult; for it need not be observed that there are PRETENDED as well as just causes of war ...

“The safety of the whole is the interest of the whole ... One government can collect and avail itself of the talents and experience of the ablest men, in whatever part of the Union they may be found. It can move on uniform principles of policy. It can harmonize, assimilate, and protect the several parts and members, and extend the benefit of its foresight and precautions to each. In the formation of treaties, it will regard the interest of the whole, and the particular interests of the parts as connected with that of the whole. It can apply the resources and power of the whole to the defense of any particular part, and that more easily and expeditiously than State governments or separate confederacies can possibly do, for want of concert and unity of system. It can place the militia under one plan of discipline, and, by putting their officers in a proper line of subordination to the Chief Magistrate, will, as it were, consolidate them into one corps, and thereby render them more efficient than if divided into thirteen or into three or four distinct independent companies.”

Topics: Federalist Papers

Federalist No. 5

The third reason for a united America: In Unity there is Strength

“It was remarked in the preceding paper, that weakness and divisions at home would invite dangers from abroad; and that nothing would tend more to secure us from them than union, strength, and good government within ourselves.”

“Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27)

Topics: Federalist Papers

Federalist Nos. 6 + 7

(A Federalist is someone who favors some sort of Federal government, that is, a government which consists of a federation of independent political bodies. An Anti-Federalist is against such a federation. More specifically, the Anti-Federalists in colonial America were against the ratification of the proposed Constitution and the new Federal government that would be created thereby. Federalists wrote the Federalist Papers. Anti-Federalists, perhaps in a less organized and methodical fashion, created a body of writings sometimes referred to as the “Anti-Federalist Papers”. A lot of the material found in the first few Federalist Papers is an attempt to convince the people of the various States that it would be more in their interest to create one national government rather than three or four smaller confederacies, or to remain as thirteen independent States. Some of the arguments used might seem obvious today, therefore we won’t dwell upon the first Papers quite so extensively. However, we should remember that the colonists had just finished fighting a war against a government which they felt did not represent them effectively and therefore the necessity of assuaging their fear of tyranny by an overly powerful national government can be well understood.)

Sources of international discord

“The causes of hostility among nations are innumerable. There are some which have a general and almost constant operation upon the collective bodies of society. Of this description are the love of power or the desire of pre-eminence and dominion—the jealousy of power, or the desire of equality and safety. There are others which have a more circumscribed though an equally operative influence within their spheres. Such are the rivalships and competitions of commerce between commercial nations. And there are others, not less numerous than either of the former, which take their origin entirely in private passions; in the attachments, enmities, interests, hopes, and fears of leading individuals in the communities of which they are members. Men of this class, whether the favorites of a king or of a people, have in too many instances abused the confidence they possessed; and assuming the pretext of some public motive, have not scrupled to sacrifice the national tranquillity to personal advantage or personal gratification.”

“Are not popular assemblies frequently subject to the impulses of rage, resentment, jealousy, avarice, and of other irregular and violent propensities? Is it not well known that their determinations are often governed by a few individuals in whom they place confidence, and are, of course, liable to be tinctured by the passions and views of those individuals?”

Topics: Federalist Papers

Federalist Nos. 8 + 9

Results of War on Political Freedom

“Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates. The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”

“The institutions chiefly alluded to are STANDING ARMIES and the correspondent appendages of military establishments.”

{The colonists believed that standing armies were dangerous liberty as their existance leads to misuse of military power. The Constitution of the United States then proposed contained no provision preventing the creation and support of standing armies, in time of peace, within the United States. Thus concern was used by the Anti-Federalists against the ratification of the Constitution. As part of his argument for the creation of one national government in these Federalists, the author turns this concern to his advantage by pointing out that if the states were governed by three or thirteen seperate governments, it would be much more likely that standing armies would exist to protect the borders of each governmental unit than if there was one national government. See the complete text of Federalist Nos. 8 + 9 for a detailed discussion of these questions in regard to the ratification of the Constitution.}

Topics: Federalist Papers

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