Publius Huldah – What Should States Do When the Federal Government Usurps Power?

What Should States Do When the Federal

Government Usurps Power?

Advice From James Madison, Father of the U.S. Constitution

By Publius Huldah
Date: Saturday, April 3, 2010
http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/

1. In Federalist No. 461 (1st para), James Madison says the ultimate authority over both the
State and federal governments resides in the People. What, then, are the People of a State to
do if the authorities in their State refuse to resist encroachments & usurpations by the federal
government?

2. Democrats, including Democrat State officials, place party loyalty over the Constitution and
their own State. It is the Democrats who are destroying our country. What do we do? (1)
Learn how to talk to Democrats. (2) Defeat them at all levels in the upcoming elections. (3)
Continually petition State officials of both parties to resist unconstitutional federal
encroachments. As other States organize to resist such federal encroachments, keep urging
your State officials to join in.

3. Federalist No. 46 (7th para) discusses how individual States or several States carry out
resistance to the federal government’s unconstitutional encroachments. If a particular State
takes an action which the federal government doesn’t like, but which has the support of the
People of that State, the federal government can’t do anything about it unless it is willing to
apply some type of pressure.

When several States oppose an unconstitutional encroachment by the federal government,

Madison says they have powerful means of opposition: the disquietude of the people, their
repugnance (e.g., baby-killing enshrined into public policy), the Peoples’ refusal to co-operate
with the officers of the federal government; the opposition of the State officials; and all those
legislative devices State Legislatures can invent to thwart & impede the federal government in
its unconstitutional schemes.

So, in para 7, Madison contemplates that not all States will oppose unconstitutional
encroachments by the federal government. But he shows that this need not impede the States
who do. Such States need not implement in their States the federal government’s lawless
usurpations. Have we forgotten how to just say, “NO! You have no authority under the
Constitution to do this, and the Sovereign State of X and the Sovereign People of the State of
X won’t permit this.” If we have taken the Oath to support the Constitution (Art. VI, clause
3), then we are bound by Honor to support it!

4. Note that Madison doesn’t say the States should file lawsuits in federal court. And WHY
would Sovereign States, which formed a federation for the limited purposes enumerated in
Art. I, Sec. 8, U.S. Constitution; ask one branch of the federal government (judiciary) to opine
on whether a “law” approved by the two other branches (legislative & executive) exceeds the

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Publius Huldah – What Should States Do When the Federal Government Usurps Power?

enumerated powers of Congress or encroaches on the reserved powers of the States and the
People (10th Amendment)? All three branches of the federal government have been unified
against The Constitution, the States, and the People for a very long time! Why do States put
themselves in the position of supplicants to a Court which has already shown itself to be
contemptuous of the Constitution, and of the States’ and The Peoples’ reserved powers?

Furthermore, the Supreme Court is not even the ultimate authority on the meaning of the
Constitution! Alexander Hamilton said federal judges may be impeached & removed for
usurpations (Federalist No. 81,2 9th para); the People are “the natural guardians of the
Constitution” as against federal judges “embarked in a conspiracy with the legislature”; and
the People are to become “enlightened enough to distinguish between a legal exercise and an
illegal usurpation of authority.”(Federalist No.16,3 10th para). Madison (or Hamilton) said
that breaches of our Constitution can be corrected by “…the people themselves, who, as the
grantors of the commission [The Constitution], can alone declare its true meaning, and
enforce its observance” (Federalist No. 49,4 3rd Para).

Finally, we already know that federal government takeover of medical care is

unconstitutional as outside the scope of the legislative powers granted to Congress in the
Constitution!

5. In para 8, Madison discusses a “general alarm” among the States as to encroachments by

the federal government. Here, Madison contemplates concerted “plans of resistance” among
the States; and Madison says it may come to a “trial of force” if a crazed federal government
doesn’t back down. In para 10, Madison says that the federal government’s “schemes of
usurpation will be easily defeated by the State governments, who will be supported by the
people”.

6. In para 9, Madison discusses the federal government’s initiation of a “trial of force”. But
who would fight for the federal government? Madison spoke of the regular Army as the force
used by the federal government. But that is the Army of our children and neighbors’
children! Surely we need not fear them. The federal government does have, here & there,
those heroic, noble, and brave men who shoot nursing mothers in the forehead, young boys in
the back, and gas & apparently incinerate men, women & children. How many are they? Then
there is Obama’s personal “civilian national security force”. Has it been established? Even so,
would they be honorable men, or another collection of thugs? In any event, Madison said,
“…it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their
side, would be able to repel the danger.”

7. When we quote James Madison and The Federalist Papers on what States may do when the
federal government has encroached upon the powers reserved by the States and the People;
we quote a high Authority on The Constitution. James Madison is the Father of the
Constitution, the author of many of the Federalist Papers, and 4th President of the United
States. States act lawfully when they follow the guidance of James Madison. When the
federal government descends into lawlessness & tyranny, The States and The People may
protect and preserve their Constitution – as they are already sworn to do.

8. Yes, the ultimate authority resides in The People. But this does not mean that The People
should – or need to – initiate a show of force. Remember the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King!
He put on his clerical collar and went out into the streets with others to protest State LAWS

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which enforced segregation. They used non-violent civil disobedience: Black people sat down
at “white’s only” lunch counters! Black people sat in the front of the busses. They did not
initiate force. The moral superiority of their position could not be denied, and they won.

9. We have Our sacred Constitution. The most important concepts for you to learn are these:
(1) Enumerated Powers (2) Why neither the “general welfare”, the “interstate commerce”, nor
the “necessary & proper” clauses authorize Congress (or the President or the federal courts) to
exceed their enumerated powers (3) The true meaning of the “Rule of Law” and how that
differs from the “Rule of Men”; (4) What is “federalism”, and (5) The origin of our Rights and
why you must NEVER speak of “constitutional” rights. My paper on Rights explains the
moral superiority of our position. You must learn why our position is morally superior
to that of the statists. And you must be prepared to explain it at all times.

May God be merciful and grant us national repentance and a peaceful political resolution.

April 3, 2010

EndNotes:

1 Federalist No. 46, (1st para), http://tinyurl.com/ylabuvv

2 Federalist No. 81, (9th para), http://tinyurl.com/yzcyhxm

3 Federalist No. 16, (10th para), http://tinyurl.com/yj2jcms

4 Federalist No. 49, (3rd Para), http://tinyurl.com/yc45zgf

Publius Huldah is a retired lawyer who lives in Tennessee USA. She writes on the U.S.
Constitution and posts her papers at publiushuldah.wordpress.com Before getting a law
degree, she got a degree in philosophy where she specialized in political philosophy and
epistemology (theories of knowledge).

Using primarily The Federalist Papers, which were written during 1787-1788 by Alexander
Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay, in order to explain the proposed Constitution to the
American People and induce them to ratify it, Publius Huldah explains the true & original
meaning of the U.S. Constitution. She also shows how modern day judges on the U.S. federal
courts have completely abandoned the U.S. Constitution and have substituted their own
personal views and opinions for The Constitution.

Publius can be reached at: Publiushuldah@twlakes.net

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Publius Huldah – What Should States Do When the Federal Government Usurps Power?

To learn more about the original intent of the Constitution and The Federalist Papers, join
the Constitution Study Groups at

http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com/group/constitutionstudygroup

and/or

http://www.teapartynation.com/group/constitutionstudygroup

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