Quotessence
Home / Topics / Federalism Quotes

Federalism Quotes

Browse 78 quotes about Federalism.

Related topics

StatesGovernmentState GovernmentPeoplePoliticalConstitutionRights

Federalism Quotes

“The sovereignty of "We the People of the United States" is admittedly an abstraction—an idea. But abstractions often have legal consequences. And the single idea of popular sovereignty generates a powerful set of legal implications covering a vast range of constitutional issues from limited government and judicial review to federalism and separation of powers to nullification and constitutional amendment. In one vital area of contemporary jurisprudence, however, the Supreme Court has fashioned doctrine wholly antithetical to the Constitution's organizing principle of popular sovereignty. By allowing both federal and state governments to invoke "sovereign immunity" from liability for constitutional violations, the Court has misinterpreted the Federalist Constitution's text, warped its unifying structure, and betrayed the intellectual history of the American Revolution that gave it birth. In effect, the Court has transformed "sovereignty" into the very tool of government supremacy that our Revolutionary forebears wielded pen and sword to destroy.”

Us ConstitutionFederalism1987ScotusSovereign ImmunityState Sovereignty
Book:Of Sovereignty and Federalism
Create image

“Logically, federalism, brought to its ultimate consequences, applied not only to the different places people inhabit but also to the various functions they perform in society, right to the commune, to whatever association, up to the individual, means the same thing as anarchy - free and sovereign units that associate for the common benefit.”

FreedomTheoryOrganizationSocialismAnarchismAnarchistAuthoritarianismFederalismFree Association
Author:Errico Malatesta
Create image

“In examining the division of powers, as established by the Federal Constitution, remarking on the one hand the portion of sovereignty which has been reserved to the several States, and on the other, the share of power which has been given to the Union, it is evident that the Federal legislators entertained very clear and accurate notions respecting the centralization of government. The United States form not only a republic, but a confederation; yet the national authority is more centralized there than it was in several of the absolute monarchies of Europe....”

RepublicMonarchySeparation Of PowersFederalismCentralizationStates RightsConfederation1835
Book:Democracy in America
Create image

“The first grand federalist design...was that of the Bible, most particularly the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament... Biblical thought is federal (from the Latin foedus, covenant) from first to last--from God's covenant with Noah establishing the biblical equivalent of what philosophers were later to term Natural Law to the Jews' reaffirmation of the Sinai covenant under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, thereby adopting the Torah as the constitution of their second commonwealth. The covenant motif is central to the biblical world view, the basis of all relationships, the mechanism for defining and allocating authority, and the foundation of the biblical political teaching.”

PoliticsConstitutionCovenantFederalism
Author:Daniel J. Elazar
Create image

“As the American Patriots imagined it, a federal relationship would be a kind of confession of first principles or covenant that would allow states to bind themselves together substantially without entirely subsuming their sundry identities. The federal nature of the American Constitutional covenant would enable the nation to function as a republic – thus specifically avoiding the dangers of a pure democracy. Republics exercise governmental authority through mediating representatives under the rule of law. Pure democracies on the other hand exercise governmental authority through the imposition of the will of the majority without regard for the concerns of any minority – thus allowing law to be subject to the whims, fashions, and fancies of men. The Founders designed federal system of the United States so that the nation could be, as John Adams described it, a “government of law, not of men.” The Founders thus expressly and explicitly rejected the idea of a pure democracy, just as surely as totalitarian monarchy, because as James Madison declared “democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths.” The rule of the majority does not always respect the rule of law, and is as turbulent as the caprices of political correctness or dictatorial autonomy. Indeed, history has proven all too often that democracy is particularly susceptible to the urges and impulses of mobocracy.”

GovernmentDemocracyFederalismFounding Fathers
Book:The Magdeburg Confession: 13th of April 1550 AD
Create image

“If Jefferson's leadership is to be set apart from others similarly situated later on, it should not be because he was inclined to finesse a frontal assault on the old [Federalist] governmental establishment, but because he transformed national politics so thoroughly without being forced into any make-or-break confrontation with it. Jefferson pursued the reconstruction of American government and politics relentlessly, and the regime he created in the end was profoundly different from the one he displaced. Yet, the most remarkable aspect of his transformation is how little resistance he encountered in the process from the institutions and interests previously attached to the old order. Jefferson's authority to reconstruct proved singularly disarming and all-encompassing.”

FederalismThomas Jefferson1993John AdamsPresidential Politics1801
Book:The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton
Create image

“To the early American his state government was at least on a par with the federal government in his esteem. Illustrative is the following incident: President Washington was about to arrive at Boston on a visit, and Governor Hancock was perturbed over a matter of protocol; would he be compromising the dignity of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts if he went to meet the “father of his country” on arrival, or would it be more proper that the President call at the state Capitol? The Governor finally settled the problem by pleading illness…. The sequel to that incident is worth noting. President Washington was asked to review the Massachusetts militia; he refused on the ground that the militia was the military arm of the state, not the federal government; after all, the tacit understanding in those days was that the militia might be called upon to face the federal army.”

American HistoryFederal GovernmentUnionFederalismStates Rights
Book:The Income Tax: Root of All Evil
Create image

“The dividing line between progressive and reactionary parties no longer follows the formal line of greater or lesser democracy, or of more or less socialism to be instituted; rather the division falls along the line, very new and substantial, that separates the party members into two groups. The first is made up of those who conceive the essential purpose and goal of struggle as the ancient one, that is, the conquest of national political power – and who, although involuntarily, play into the hands of reactionary forces, letting the incandescent lava of popular passions set in the old moulds, and thus allowing old absurdities to arise once again. The second are those who see the creation of a solid international State as the main purpose; they will direct popular forces toward this goal, and, having won national power, will use it first and foremost as an instrument for achieving international unity.”

LiberalismNationalismEuropean UnionPopulismInternational PeaceProgressivismFederalismReactionary PoliticsPolitical Power PlayPublic Choice
Book:Il manifesto di Ventotene
Create image

“The Supreme Court had the choice not only which way to rule, pro- or anti-gay marriage rights, but also how they were going to rule. They could have ruled just federalism, saying, "This isn't a matter for federal; this isn't a federal issue at all. States should decide it." Or they could decide it on equal protection grounds and say that, "Gay discrimination is wrong."”

WayShouldMatterStatesChoicesIssuesRightsGayEqualCourtProtectionSupremeDiscriminationSupreme CourtGay MarriageFederalismAnti GayAll StateEqual Protection
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“To take a single step beyond the boundaries specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible to definition.”

GovernmentPoliticalPoliticsStepsFieldsConstitutionCongressDefinitionsPossessionBoundariesFederal GovernmentBoundlessFreedom LibertyProperty RightsBill Of RightsSusceptibleAmerican GovernmentConstitutional RightsSeparation Of PowersUs ConstitutionFederalismGeneral WelfareConstitutional GovernmentSingle StepTyranny Founding FathersPower Government
Book:The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont
Create image

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

PeopleStatesGovernmentUnitedUnited StatesConstitutionFederal GovernmentReservedFreedom LibertyProperty RightsLimited GovernmentBill Of RightsFederal ReserveJudiciaryAmerican GovernmentLimiting GovernmentConstitution Of The United StatesFounding Fathers GunConstitutional RightsSeparation Of PowersUs ConstitutionFounding Fathers Second AmendmentFederalismSecessionGeneral WelfareConstitutional GovernmentStates RightsTyranny Founding FathersAmending The ConstitutionPower GovernmentPolice PowerNullification
Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution
Create image

“Crucial to understanding federalism in modern day America is the concept of mobility, or 'the ability to vote with your feet.' If you don't support the death penalty and citizens packing a pistol - don't come to Texas. If you don't like medicinal marijuana and gay marriage, don't move to California.”

IfsAmericaMovingUnderstandingAbilitySupportFeetModernCitizensGayConceptsVoteCaliforniaTexasCrucialMarijuanaPenaltiesDeath PenaltyGay MarriagePistolsMobilityPackingModern DayFederalism
Author:Rick Perry
Create image

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power not longer susceptible of any definition.”

PeopleStatesGovernmentUnitedStepsUnited StatesFieldsConstitutionFoundationCongressDefinitionsPossessionBoundariesSocialismFederal GovernmentBoundlessReservedFreedom LibertyProperty RightsBill Of RightsSusceptibleAmerican GovernmentConstitution Of The United StatesConstitutional RightsSeparation Of PowersUs ConstitutionFederalismGeneral WelfareConstitutional GovernmentSingle StepStates RightsTyranny Founding FathersPower Government
Book:The writings of Thomas Jefferson: being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private : published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State
Create image

“...for two centuries supporters of the Electoral College have built their arguments on a series of faulty premises. The Electoral College is a gross violation of the cherished value of political equality. At the same time, it does not protect the interests of small states or racial minorities, nor does it serve as a bastion of federalism. Instead the Electoral College distorts the presidential campaign so that candidates ignore most small states - and many large ones - and pay little attention to minorities.”

LittlesDoeTwoStatesPoliticalValuesInterestPayAttentionCenturyCollegeProtectBuiltArgumentSeriesCampaignsPresidentialCandidatesMinoritiesSupporterGrossViolationPremisesPresidential CampaignFederalismElectoral CollegePolitical Equality
Author:George C. Edwards III
Create image

“While the constitution continues to be read, and its principles known, the states, must, by every rational man, be considered as essential component parts of the union; and therefore the idea of sacrificing the former to the latter is totally inadmissible.”

MenIdeasStatesKnownPrinciplesSacrificeEssentialsConstitutionUnionsRationalFormerLatterComponentsFederalism
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
Create image

“It becomes all therefore who are friends of a Government based on free principles to reflect, that by denying the possibility of a system partly federal and partly consolidated, and who would convert ours into one either wholly federal or wholly consolidated, in neither of which forms have individual rights, public order, and external safety, been all duly maintained, they aim a deadly blow at the last hope of true liberty on the face of the Earth.”

GovernmentEarthLastsFacesFormOrderIndividualLibertyPrinciplesRightsPossibilityAimSafetyBlowIndividual RightsFederalism
Book:1829-1836
Create image

“This balance between the National and State governments ought to be dwelt on with peculiar attention, as it is of the utmost importance. It forms a double security to the people. If one encroaches on their rights they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits by a certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them.”

PeopleIfsStatesGovernmentFormCertainPowerfulAttentionRightsSecurityOughtBalanceLimitsImportanceProtectionPeculiarState GovernmentFederalism
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
Create image

“The State governments possess inherent advantages, which will ever give them an influence and ascendancy over the National Government, and will for ever preclude the possibility of federal encroachments. That their liberties, indeed, can be subverted by the federal head, is repugnant to every rule of political calculation.”

GivingStatesGovernmentPoliticalLibertyInfluencePossibilityPoliticianAdvantageInherentCalculationsState GovernmentEncroachmentFounding Fathers DemocracyLocal GovernmentFederalismStates RightsAscendancy
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
Create image

“So that the executive and legislative branches of the national government depend upon, and emanate from the states. Every where the state sovereignties are represented; and the national sovereignty, as such, has no representation.”

StatesGovernmentDependsBranchesExecutivesRepresentationSovereigntyEmanateFederalismNational SovereigntyLegislative Branch
Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before the Adoption of the Constitution
Create image

“The state governments have a full superintendence and control over the immense mass of local interests of their respective states, which connect themselves with the feelings, the affections, the municipal institutions, and the internal arrangements of the whole population. They possess, too, the immediate administration of justice in all cases, civil and criminal, which concern the property, personal rights, and peaceful pursuits of their own citizens.”

StatesWholeFeelingsGovernmentInterestJusticeCasesRightsCitizensMassConcernInstitutionsPropertyPopulationAffectionCriminalsPursuitLocalsPeacefulAdministrationInternalsImmenseArrangementsState GovernmentFederalismPersonal RightsAdministration Of Justice
Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution
Create image

“In the next place, the state governments are, by the very theory of the constitution, essential constituent parts of the general government. They can exist without the latter, but the latter cannot exist without them.”

StatesGovernmentNextTheoryEssentialsConstitutionLatterConstituentsState GovernmentFederalism
Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before the Adoption of the Constitution
Create image

“In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws. Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any.”

FirstsWholeGovernmentLawCertainObjectsMembersConcernRememberedRepublicProvisionJurisdictionFederalism
Book:The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States
Create image

“When you assemble from your several counties in the Legislature, were every member to be guided only by the apparent interest of his county, government would be impracticable. There must be a perpetual accomodation and sacrifice of local advantage to general expediency.”

GovernmentWould BeInterestSacrificeMembersAdvantageLocalsPerpetualCountyLegislatureExpediencyFederalism
Book:Alexander Hamilton: selections representing his life, his thought, and his style
Create image

“The local interest of a State ought in every case to give way to the interests of the Union. For when a sacrifice of one or the other is necessary, the former becomes only an apparent, partial interest, and should yield, on the principle that the smaller good ought never to oppose the greater good.”

WayGivingShouldStatesInterestPrinciplesCasesGreaterSacrificeOughtUnionsLocalsFormerYieldGreater GoodFederalism
Book:The works of Alexander Hamilton: comprising his correspondence, and his political and official writings, exclusive of the Federalist, civil and military. Published from the original manuscripts deposited in the Department of State, by order of the Joint Library Committee of Congress
Create image

“The true test is, whether the object be of a local character, and local use; or, whether it be of general benefit to the states. If it be purely local, congress cannot constitutionally appropriate money for the object. But, if the benefit be general, it matters not, whether in point of locality it be in one state, or several; whether it be of large, or of small extent.”

IfsMatterStatesCharacterUseObjectsBenefitsTestsCongressLocalsAppropriateFederalismLocality
Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution
Create image

“To attach full confidence to an institution of this nature, it appears to be an essential ingredient in its structure, that it shall be under private and not a public direction-under the guidance of individual interest, not of public policy; which, would be . . . liable to being too much influenced by public necessity.”

Would BeIndividualInterestToo MuchPolicyEssentialsInstitutionsStructureGuidanceIngredientsLiablePublic PolicyFederalism
Book:The Vision of Hamilton: Hamilton's 4 Reports and LaRouche's 4 Laws
Create image

“The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government.”

ImportantIdeasStatesGovernmentCertainTermDirectConstitutionPossessionRationalAllowingSenatePortionsRepresentationSovereignFederal GovernmentSovereigntyExclusiveAbolitionConstituentsImportsState GovernmentFederalistFederalist PapersFederalismImplyingNational Sovereignty
Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
Create image

“Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.”

IfsStatesWisdomBodyAmericaConstitutionRelationIndependentBoundsSovereignFederalism
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
Create image

“But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm . . . But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.”

StatesGovernmentWould BeDegreesAuthorityMadnessOppositionAmbitiousFederal GovernmentSignalsAlarmsState GovernmentFederalist PapersExtremityEncroachmentFederalism
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
Create image