Federalist No. 46 was written by James Madison under the name Publius and published in the New York Packet on January 29, 1788. In this essay, Madison compares the practical influence of the state and federal governments and argues that the people’s natural attachment will lean more toward the states.
This paper matters because Madison says the states would not be helpless if the federal government ever became overambitious. The people remain the ultimate authority, the states enjoy stronger local attachment and denser everyday influence, and in an extreme case the states could rally public resistance on a scale the federal government would be foolish to provoke. It is also one of the most quoted papers on the relationship between an armed citizenry, local governments, and resistance to tyranny.
1. Both governments are agents of the same people
“The federal and State governments are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people”
Madison starts by clearing the ground. The federal and state governments are not alien species. Both are creations of the people, given different powers for different purposes.
2. Ultimate authority always remains with the people
“the ultimate authority… resides in the people alone”
That is one of the load-bearing lines in the essay. Madison says the real contest is never simply government versus government. The people are the final superior.
3. The people’s first attachment will usually be to their states
“the first and most natural attachment of the people will be to the governments of their respective States.”
This is one of the central claims of the paper. Madison thinks state governments will attract stronger emotional loyalty because they are closer, more familiar, and more woven into ordinary life.
4. More people expect to rise through state governments
“Into the administration of these a greater number of individuals will expect to rise.”
State governments offer more offices, more entry points, and more visible chances for local ambition. That naturally builds attachment.
5. The states regulate the more domestic and personal interests of the people
“all the more domestic and personal interests of the people will be regulated and provided for.”
Madison’s point is simple: the things people touch most often in ordinary life are mostly state matters, not federal matters.
6. Familiarity and personal ties strengthen state loyalty
“personal acquaintance and friendship, and of family and party attachments”
This is classic Madison realism. Politics is not powered only by abstract theory. It also runs on local familiarity, friendships, parties, and family networks.
7. Even during the Revolution, the federal council was not the lasting “idol of popular favor”
“the federal council was at no time the idol of popular favor”
That line is sharp. Madison says even when Congress was engaged in the great work of independence, popular attention eventually swung back toward the states.
8. If people ever favor the federal government more, it will be because it earned it
“manifest and irresistible proofs of a better administration”
Madison is saying the federal government would have to win that confidence by obvious superior performance, not by automatic structural dominance.
9. Members of Congress will still carry a strong local bias
“A local spirit will infallibly prevail much more in the members of Congress”
Another key point. Madison thinks federal legislators will still think a lot like men of their states, not like detached managers of a consolidated empire.
10. States are to Congress what counties and towns are to state legislatures
“The States will be to the latter what counties and towns are to the former.”
That is a terrific analogy. Madison says federal lawmakers will feel the pull of state interests the same way state lawmakers feel the pull of local district interests.
11. Congress has often acted like partisans of their states
“rather of partisans of their respective States, than of impartial guardians of a common interest”
Madison says experience already shows this tendency. Federal representatives are not likely to shed all local loyalties once they reach national office.
12. States would have the advantage in resisting federal encroachments
“the latter would still have the advantage in the means of defeating such encroachments.”
That is one of the core claims of the paper. Even if the federal government wanted to overreach, the states would not be easy prey.
13. A popular state measure can be executed immediately on the spot
“it is executed immediately and, of course, by means on the spot and depending on the State alone.”
Madison contrasts local immediacy with federal distance. State governments act through nearby machinery and local support.
14. Federal interference would often inflame state resistance
“would but inflame the zeal of all parties on the side of the State”
He is saying clumsy federal intervention could easily make state-level opposition stronger, not weaker.
15. States have many tools short of war
“The disquietude of the people; their repugnance and, perhaps, refusal to co-operate”
“the frowns of the executive magistracy of the State”
“the embarrassments created by legislative devices”
This is one of the most important passages in the paper. Madison lists practical forms of resistance: public noncooperation, state executive hostility, and legislative obstruction.
16. If several adjoining states acted together, the obstruction could be enormous
“where the sentiments of several adjoining States happened to be in unison”
“would present obstructions which the federal government would hardly be willing to encounter.”
That is a major escalation point. Madison says united regional state resistance would be a very serious barrier.
17. A federal usurpation would become a signal of general alarm
“They would be signals of general alarm.”
Strong phrase. Madison thinks naked federal encroachment would not quietly slide by. It would trigger broad political mobilization.
18. The states would coordinate resistance
“A correspondence would be opened. Plans of resistance would be concerted. One spirit would animate and conduct the whole.”
That is one of the most memorable passages in the essay. Madison imagines states communicating, coordinating, and presenting a united political front.
19. A direct federal-state military showdown would be madness
“what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity?”
Madison thinks the scenario itself borders on absurdity. A few federal representatives would effectively be trying to impose themselves against the people and their state governments at once.
20. The nightmare theory requires a chain of betrayals so long it becomes ridiculous
“the incoherent dreams of a delirious jealousy”
“the misjudged exaggerations of a counterfeit zeal”
That is Madison turning openly scornful. He says the consolidation nightmare requires too many unlikely betrayals, too much passivity, and too much blindness from both states and people.
21. Even a full federal standing army would be outnumbered
“an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men.”
Madison runs the numbers and says even a very large federal army would still be tiny compared with the armed population of the states.
22. It would face a militia of nearly half a million citizens
“a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands”
This is the military heart of the essay. Madison argues that an armed citizen body, organized through the states, would be a huge counterweight to federal ambition.
23. Those citizens would be led by officers chosen from among themselves
“officered by men chosen from among themselves”
That matters because Madison is not picturing an armed mass without leadership. He is picturing a locally trusted and organized force.
24. They would be fighting for their common liberties
“fighting for their common liberties”
Madison thinks motive matters. A people defending their own liberties, homes, and institutions are not easy to conquer.
25. Americans possess the advantage of being armed
“the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation”
This is one of the paper’s most famous lines. Madison contrasts America with European states that are afraid to trust the people with arms.
26. Local governments make that advantage stronger
“the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached”
“forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition”
This is the real Madison formula: armed citizens plus beloved local governments plus locally appointed militia officers. That combination, he says, is harder for ambition to overcome than any barrier in a simple centralized regime.
27. European tyrannies would fall if their peoples had the same advantages
“the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned”
That is one of the boldest lines in the essay. Madison says the problem in Europe is not just armies; it is the lack of both arms and local republican institutions in the hands of the people.
28. The whole argument boils down to a simple fork
“Either the mode in which the federal government is to be constructed will render it sufficiently dependent on the people, or it will not.”
This is Madison’s clean summary. If the federal government is dependent on the people, it will be restrained. If it is not, it will lack their confidence and be checked by the states backed by the people.
Related Links
- Federalist No. 46 Full Text
- Federalist Papers
- James Madison
- Federalist No. 45
- United States Constitution
- Articles of Confederation