When the War for Independence came to an end, the 13 Colonies were separate and distinct sovereign nations. The joined together to form an alliance for their mutual defense. The agreement that bound the colonies together was called the Articles of Confederation. This document was more of a treaty or a charter between thirteen sovereign states than it was a Constitution. Each of state Constitutions defined the role and responsibility of the state and their relationship to the people. The Constitution for the United States defined the role and responsibility of the newly formed nation and its relationship to the states. The state governments were to defend the people’s life, liberty and property and the Central government was created to defend the states and to resolve disputes between the states. The central government was created with limited power so that it would remain the servant of the people and of the states.
When the delegates met in Philadelphia they were assigned the task of revising the Articles of Confederation. The result of the Convention was a proposal to create one nation with 13 subdivisions. Each of the states were required to give a portion of their sovereignty to the central government. The powers not granted to the central government were to be retained by the states.
Those Patriots that opposed the ratification of the Constitution realized that in order to create a central government for the new nation it would be necessary for the states to surrender a portion of their sovereignty for the greater good of the greater number.
With the ratification of the Constitution the states and the central government were to share the the authority in a system of dual sovereignty. The majority of the power was to be vested in the states while a short list of powers were to delegated by the states to central government.
The framers of the Constitution knew that unless a series of checks and balances existed the states would overpower the central government or the central government would overpower the states. When Federalism is operating properly neither the states or the central government can has sufficient power to abuse the rights of the people.
The Framers wrote the Constitution in order to give their new central government enough power to defend the colonies, while the states were assigned the task of defending the lives, liberty and property of the people, When a central government’s is created, there is a tendency for those in leadership positions to embrace the idea that any legislation can be justified if it benefits more people than it harms. The ratification of the Constitution opened the door to the creation of a collectivist state where the government took on the role of providing for the people rather than protecting their right to compete for the bounties of life.
In order to create the new central government the people would be required to give up some of their liberty in exchange for security. Benjamin Franklin warned that “The man that gives up a portion of his liberty to achieve security, receives neither liberty or security”.
In the very first Article in the Constitution, Congress is given the power to tax. In other words the property rights of the people were no longer unalienable. When people are compelled to pay tribute to their government, they have become the subjects which is a just another name for a slave.
A government has the authority to charge a person for services rendered but does not have a right to take property from one individual and give it to another. Frederuc Bastiat referred to taxation as legal plunder.
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