“Don’t make a federal case out of it” was at one time an effective rebuke to someone making a big deal out of a small matter. In other words, the remark was a commonly understood recognition that most matters are better handled in one’s own community. After all, reduced to its essence, the reason behind the separation of the colonies from the British Empire was that they did not want to be ruled by a distant government on matters that were essentially mostly local concerns.

When adopting the Constitution of the United States, the Framers of that document intended to establish a federal republic, not a unitary democracy. That is the form of government that the state ratifying conventions also believed they were agreeing to when they ratified the Constitution. Finally, to emphasize the point, the 10th Amendment clearly stipulated this principle and was enshrined in the founding document of the Republic: “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.”

One political theorist widely respected by the Founding Fathers was the Baron de Montesquieu of France. It is not unusual for government textbooks to teach his admiration of the concept of separation of powers, which he attributed to the British system in his The Spirit of Laws, published in 1748. Less known is that Montesquieu had issues with the overly centralized system of parliamentary sovereignty found in Britain.

This fantastic article is for subscribers only.

Login

Username/Email Address

Password

Remember Me

Lost Password?

JBS Member or ShopJBS.org Customer?

Sign in with your ShopJBS.org account username and password or use that login to subscribe.

Subscribe Now

Use code SUB25 at check out

• 24 Issues Per Year
• Digital Edition Access
• Exclusive Subscriber Content
• Audio provided for all articles
• Unlimited access to past issues
• Cancel anytime.
• Renews automatically

Subscribe Now

Use code SUB25 at check out

• 24 Issues Per Year
• Print edition delivery (USA)
  *Available Outside USA
• Digital Edition Access
• Exclusive Subscriber Content
• Audio provided for all articles
• Unlimited access to past issues
• Cancel anytime.
• Renews automatically