capacity of mankind for self-government,” the national government needs to be republican (Federalist The first principle of republicanism—the moreover, is 39). “republican principle”—, popular sovereignty. On understanding, then, it is that the Madison’s absolutely “essential” national government rest ultimately on the original sovereign authority of great body of the “the and thus that ratification be clearly obtained from this people,” very “people.” application of the principle of popular sovereignty to the government formed Madison’s by the Constitution—through his insistence on ratification by than the “the people” rather states—constitutes in many ways the root and touchstone of his A early “nationalism.” republican national government founded on popular sovereignty required a national people correlative to it, and the ratification process would serve as the mechanism by which such a people would be crystallized (whether or not a national or people had existed in any “society” sense before). For this reason Madison freely refers to people of in Federalist 39, “the America” and simply to in a national sense throughout his writings and speeches around this “the people” time. first proposed amendment to the Constitution, to take one notable example, Madison’s states that is originally vested in, and consequently derived from, the This “all power people.” proposed amendment goes on to assert that the government formed by the Constitution to “ought be exercised for the benefit of the and people,” who possess “an indubitable, unalienable, right of revolution (Myers 1981, 164). By proposing to explicitly link the new indefeasible” Constitution to the political philosophical principles of the Declaration of Independence, Madison clearly signals the of the government formed by this profoundly “nationalist” character Constitution—the general government rests squarely and solely on a national political society or a national “people.”
capacity of mankind for self-government,” the national government needs to be republican (Federalist 39). The first principle of republicanism—the “republican principle”—, moreover, is popular sovereignty. On Madison’s understanding, then, it is absolutely “essential” that the national government rest ultimately on the original sovereign authority of “the great body of the people,” and thus that ratification be clearly obtained from this very “people.” Madison’s application of the principle of popular sovereignty to the government formed by the Constitution—through his insistence on ratification by “the people” rather than the states—constitutes in many ways the root and touchstone of his early “nationalism.” A republican national government founded on popular sovereignty required a national people correlative to it, and the ratification process would serve as the mechanism by which such a people would be crystallized (whether or not a national “society” or people had existed in any sense before). For this reason Madison freely refers to “the people of America” in Federalist 39, and simply to “the people” in a national sense throughout his writings and speeches around this time. Madison’s first proposed amendment to the Constitution, to take one notable example, states that “all power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from, the people.” This proposed amendment goes on to assert that the government formed by the Constitution “ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people,” who possess “an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible” right of revolution (Myers 1981, 164). By proposing to explicitly link the new Constitution to the political philosophical principles of the Declaration of Independence, Madison clearly signals the profoundly “nationalist” character of the government formed by this Constitution—the general government rests squarely and solely on a national political society or a national “people.”