RALEIGH — With the renewed interest in state sovereignty and federalism as alternatives to the current march toward centralization, Americans forget that states can abuse power, too.
State leaders have abused power, and state governments will probably do so again. Defenders of centralization highlight those facts when attempting to nullify arguments calling for a weaker national government. The abuses of power at the state level prove only that one should constantly question government actions at the state and national (and local) levels. Watchdogs should exist at each level.
Although all government has the potential to be draconian, it is far better for you and me to deal with a smaller and weaker government than a gargantuan one whose size instills fear and discourages criticism.
The Founders believed in a federal form of government because they believed that people in a particular state were more similar than different. And in many ways, they were correct. People referred to themselves primarily as being “Virginian” or “North Carolinian” and not “American.” It was believed that people in the states would enact laws that reflected their beliefs. What might be considered unjust in Connecticut, to use one example, might be considered fair in Delaware. Tyranny, it was believed, was less likely in a federal government.
The Founders sense of federalism was informed by an understanding of the Dutch philosopher Johannes Althusius (1557-1638). When the Founders declared independence from Great Britain, the action seemed more attuned to medieval times than a product of the Enlightenment. The Founders were not trying to overthrow King George III; they were trying to form what they considered to be a more just government while preserving their liberties as Englishmen. King George III was the modern, progressive one, who made justifications for the unitary state.
In Politica (1603), Althusius argues that the first political society is neither the state nor national government. He argues that political society starts with the family, which associates with other families, forms a village, and gives authority to its leaders. Villages form provinces and give authority to that government, and so on. Meanwhile, individuals have the right to contract with other individuals to form associations and the like.
The Founders admired Althusian thought and the Dutch federation in which he lived. Althusius’ ideas also influenced the philosopher David Hume, who likewise influenced many Founders.
To say that the American Revolution and the French Revolution were more similar than different is absurd. Leaders in both revolutions, to be sure, were products of their times. Yet one wanted to start something new while preserving what was good and true. The other sought destruction while ushering in a new age that resorted to age-old tyranny.
The latter, the French Revolution, shocked Alexis de Tocqueville: “The old localized authorities disappear without either revival or replacement, and everywhere the central government succeeds them in the direction of affairs. … Everywhere men are leaving behind the liberty of the Middle Ages, not to enter into a modern brand of liberty but to return to the ancient despotism; for centralization is nothing else than an up-to-date version of the administration seen in the Roman Empire.”
According to the Founders, people give authority to government, beginning at the local community, moving then to the state and onward to the national level. In essence, families created villages, villages created local governments, local units created the states, and the states created the national government. Long before there was a United States of America there was a North Carolina. Long before North Carolina, there were towns and villages and families.
Americans are starting to reclaim the Ninth and 10th Amendments, but states’ rights should not be “the be-all and end-all.” Federalism should be alive and well within a state’s borders, too.
Dr. Troy Kickler is director of the North Carolina History Project (www.northcarolinahistory.org).