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The Senate
To the People of the State of New York:
The heads into which this member of the government may be
considered are: I. The qualification of senators; II. The
appointment of them by the State legislatures; III. The equality of
representation in the Senate; IV. The number of senators, and the
term for which they are to be elected; V. The powers vested in the
Senate.
I. The qualifications proposed for senators, as distinguished
from those of representatives, consist in a more advanced age and a
longer period of citizenship. A senator must be thirty years of age
at least; as a representative must be twenty-five. And the former
must have been a citizen nine years; as seven years are required
for the latter. The propriety of these distinctions is explained by
the nature of the senatorial trust, which, requiring greater extent
of information and tability of character, requires at the same time
that the senator should have reached a period of life most likely to
supply these advantages; and which, participating immediately in
transactions with foreign nations, ought to be exercised by none who
are not thoroughly weaned from the prepossessions and habits
incident to foreign birth and education. The term of nine years
appears to be a prudent mediocrity between a total exclusion of
adopted citizens, whose merits and talents may claim a share in the
public confidence, and an indiscriminate and hasty admission of
them, which might create a channel for foreign influence on the
national councils.
II. It is equally unnecessary to dilate on the appointment of
senators by the State legislatures. Among the various modes which
might have been devised for constituting this branch of the
government, that which has been proposed by the convention is
probably the most congenial with the public opinion. It is
recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select
appointment, and of giving to the State governments such an agency
in the formation of the federal government as must secure the
authority of the former, and may form a convenient link between the
two systems.
III. The equality of representation in the Senate is another
point, which, being evidently the result of compromise between the
opposite pretensions of the large and the small States, does not
call for much discussion. If indeed it be right, that among a
people thoroughly incorporated into one nation, every district ought
to have a proportional share in the government, and that among
independent and sovereign States, bound together by a simple league,
the parties, however unequal in size, ought to have an EQUAL share
in the common councils, it does not appear to be without some reason
that in a compound republic, partaking both of the national and
federal character, the government ought to be founded on a mixture
of the principles of proportional and equal representation. But it
is superfluous to try, by the standard of theory, a part of the
Constitution which is allowed on all hands to be the result, not of
theory, but ``of a spirit of amity, and that mutual deference and
concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered
indispensable.'' A common government, with powers equal to its
objects, is called for by the voice, and still more loudly by the
political situation, of America. A government founded on principles
more consonant to the wishes of the larger States, is not likely to
be obtained from the smaller States. The only option, then, for the
former, lies between the proposed government and a government still
more objectionable. Under this alternative, the advice of prudence
must be to embrace the lesser evil; and, instead of indulging a
fruitless anticipation of the possible mischiefs which may ensue, to
contemplate rather the advantageous consequences which may qualify
the sacrifice.
In this spirit it may be remarked, that the equal vote allowed
to each State is at once a constitutional recognition of the portion
of sovereignty remaining in the individual States, and an instrument
for preserving that residuary sovereignty. So far the equality
ought to be no less acceptable to the large than to the small
States; since they are not less solicitous to guard, by every
possible expedient, against an improper consolidation of the States
into one simple republic.
Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the
constitution of the Senate is, the additional impediment it must
prove against improper acts of legislation. No law or resolution
can now be passed without the concurrence, first, of a majority of
the people, and then, of a majority of the States. It must be
acknowledged that this complicated check on legislation may in some
instances be injurious as well as beneficial; and that the peculiar
defense which it involves in favor of the smaller States, would be
more rational, if any interests common to them, and distinct from
those of the other States, would otherwise be exposed to peculiar
danger. But as the larger States will always be able, by their
power over the supplies, to defeat unreasonable exertions of this
prerogative of the lesser States, and as the faculty and excess of
law-making seem to be the diseases to which our governments are most
liable, it is not impossible that this part of the Constitution may
be more convenient in practice than it appears to many in
contemplation.
IV. The number of senators, and the duration of their
appointment, come next to be considered. In order to form an
accurate judgment on both of these points, it will be proper to
inquire into the purposes which are to be answered by a senate; and
in order to ascertain these, it will be necessary to review the
inconveniences which a republic must suffer from the want of such an
institution.
First. It is a misfortune incident to republican
government, though in a less degree than to other governments, that
those who administer it may forget their obligations to their
constituents, and prove unfaithful to their important trust. In
this point of view, a senate, as a second branch of the legislative
assembly, distinct from, and dividing the power with, a first, must
be in all cases a salutary check on the government. It doubles the
security to the people, by requiring the concurrence of two distinct
bodies in schemes of usurpation or perfidy, where the ambition or
corruption of one would otherwise be sufficient. This is a
precaution founded on such clear principles, and now so well
understood in the United States, that it would be more than
superfluous to enlarge on it. I will barely remark, that as the
improbability of sinister combinations will be in proportion to the
dissimilarity in the genius of the two bodies, it must be politic to
distinguish them from each other by every circumstance which will
consist with a due harmony in all proper measures, and with the
genuine principles of republican government.
Secondly. The necessity of a senate is not less indicated
by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies to yield to
the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by
factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions.
Examples on this subject might be cited without number; and from
proceedings within the United States, as well as from the history of
other nations. But a position that will not be contradicted, need
not be proved. All that need be remarked is, that a body which is
to correct this infirmity ought itself to be free from it, and
consequently ought to be less numerous. It ought, moreover, to
possess great firmness, and consequently ought to hold its authority
by a tenure of considerable duration.
Thirdly. Another defect to be supplied by a senate lies in
a want of due acquaintance with the objects and principles of
legislation. It is not possible that an assembly of men called for
the most part from pursuits of a private nature, continued in
appointment for a short time, and led by no permanent motive to
devote the intervals of public occupation to a study of the laws,
the affairs, and the comprehensive interests of their country,
should, if left wholly to themselves, escape a variety of important
errors in the exercise of their legislative trust. It may be
affirmed, on the best grounds, that no small share of the present
embarrassments of America is to be charged on the blunders of our
governments; and that these have proceeded from the heads rather
than the hearts of most of the authors of them. What indeed are all
the repealing, explaining, and amending laws, which fill and
disgrace our voluminous codes, but so many monuments of deficient
wisdom; so many impeachments exhibited by each succeeding against
each preceding session; so many admonitions to the people, of the
value of those aids which may be expected from a well-constituted
senate?
A good government implies two things: first, fidelity to the
object of government, which is the happiness of the people;
secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best
attained. Some governments are deficient in both these qualities;
most governments are deficient in the first. I scruple not to
assert, that in American governments too little attention has been
paid to the last. The federal Constitution avoids this error; and
what merits particular notice, it provides for the last in a mode
which increases the security for the first.
Fourthly. The mutability in the public councils arising
from a rapid succession of new members, however qualified they may
be, points out, in the strongest manner, the necessity of some
stable institution in the government. Every new election in the
States is found to change one half of the representatives. From
this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a
change of opinions, a change of measures. But a continual change
even of good measures is inconsistent with every rule of prudence
and every prospect of success. The remark is verified in private
life, and becomes more just, as well as more important, in national
transactions.
To trace the mischievous effects of a mutable government would
fill a volume. I will hint a few only, each of which will be
perceived to be a source of innumerable others.
In the first place, it forfeits the respect and confidence of
other nations, and all the advantages connected with national
character. An individual who is observed to be inconstant to his
plans, or perhaps to carry on his affairs without any plan at all,
is marked at once, by all prudent people, as a speedy victim to his
own unsteadiness and folly. His more friendly neighbors may pity
him, but all will decline to connect their fortunes with his; and
not a few will seize the opportunity of making their fortunes out of
his. One nation is to another what one individual is to another;
with this melancholy distinction perhaps, that the former, with
fewer of the benevolent emotions than the latter, are under fewer
restraints also from taking undue advantage from the indiscretions
of each other. Every nation, consequently, whose affairs betray a
want of wisdom and stability, may calculate on every loss which can
be sustained from the more systematic policy of their wiser
neighbors. But the best instruction on this subject is unhappily
conveyed to America by the example of her own situation. She finds
that she is held in no respect by her friends; that she is the
derision of her enemies; and that she is a prey to every nation
which has an interest in speculating on her fluctuating councils and
embarrassed affairs.
The internal effects of a mutable policy are still more
calamitous. It poisons the blessing of liberty itself. It will be
of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of
their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be
read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be
repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such
incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can
guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of
action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less
fixed?
Another effect of public instability is the unreasonable
advantage it gives to the sagacious, the enterprising, and the
moneyed few over the industrious and uniformed mass of the people.
Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue, or in any way
affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a
new harvest to those who watch the change, and can trace its
consequences; a harvest, reared not by themselves, but by the toils
and cares of the great body of their fellow-citizens. This is a
state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws
are made for the few, not for the many.
In another point of view, great injury results from an unstable
government. The want of confidence in the public councils damps
every useful undertaking, the success and profit of which may depend
on a continuance of existing arrangements. What prudent merchant
will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows
not but that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be
executed? What farmer or manufacturer will lay himself out for the
encouragement given to any particular cultivation or establishment,
when he can have no assurance that his preparatory labors and
advances will not render him a victim to an inconstant government?
In a word, no great improvement or laudable enterprise can go
forward which requires the auspices of a steady system of national
policy.
But the most deplorable effect of all is that diminution of
attachment and reverence which steals into the hearts of the people,
towards a political system which betrays so many marks of infirmity,
and disappoints so many of their flattering hopes. No government,
any more than an individual, will long be respected without being
truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a
certain portion of order and stability.
Publius.
Hamilton
or Madison For the Independent Journal.
HAVING examined the constitution of the House of
Representatives, and answered such of the objections against it as
seemed to merit notice, I enter next on the examination of the
Senate.