And if they do not sufficiently enlarge their
policy to embrace the collective welfare of their particular State, how
can it be imagined that they will make the aggregate prosperity of the
Union, and the dignity and respectability of its government, the objects
of their affections and consultations? For the same reason that the
members of the State legislatures will be unlikely to attach themselves
sufficiently to national objects, the members of the federal legislature
will be likely to attach themselves too much to local objects. The
States will be to the latter what counties and towns are to the former.
Measures will too often be decided according to their probable effect,
not on the national prosperity and happiness, but on the prejudices,
interests, and pursuits of the governments and people of the individual
States. What is the spirit that has in general characterized the
proceedings of Congress? A perusal of their journals, as well as the
candid acknowledgments of such as have had a seat in that assembly, will
inform us, that the members have but too frequently displayed the
character, rather of partisans of their respective States, than of
impartial guardians of a common interest; that where on one occasion
improper sacrifices have been made of local considerations, to the
aggrandizement of the federal government, the great interests of the
nation have suffered on a hundred, from an undue attention to the local
prejudices, interests, and views of the particular States.
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