Reading Report of Some New World Lessons for the Old World[1]
The paper remarks three areas in which American Constitution is considered to have made distinctive contributions to the world; they are: an extended democratic republic, federalism and civilian supremacy. And the author emphasizes on America’s earlysuccessfulexperience.The aim of this paper is to offerAmerica’s valuable lessons to Easter Europe for their rebirth and constitution-making.
The first part of the paper is about the extended democratic republic of America. There are three main responses to the Anti-Federalists. First, Montesquieu did not support the Anti-Federalists as far as they supposed. For Montesquieu suggested that “confederate republic” could avoid the geographic limitations. Second, Madison pointed that an extended republic could control factionalism. These two reasons described in Federalists 9 and 10 are well-treasured nowadays. However, the most important point—“geostrategic” argument recorded in Federalists 4 through 8 is ignored today.In these passages, the Publius made an analogue between England and America. They pointed that if states united, America would resemble England. Because America has Atlantic as the moat to protect it from being invaded by Europeans, America need not sustain large standing armies which can easily lead tyranny and crush domestic liberty. On the contrary, if the Confederation is divided into thirteen nations, each separation will be free to arm itself and intimidate its neighbors.And given the latent conflict on the control of the West, the option of a system of three or four smaller confederacies will similarly cause chaos.Only the confederation can bring peace and development for America.
The geostrategic vision was well-received by elites such as James Wilson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. Moreover, the argument influenced the politic and legislative realities. For example, the Bill of Rights, the Second and Third Amendments all stress on the restrictions of federal government and army but ignore the states. Even President Jefferson’s purchase of Louisiana and the Monroe Doctrine all show the influences of geostrategy.
Since twentieth-century, Federalist 10 has been rediscovered while geostrategic vision has fallen. But through the Pearl Harbor incident, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Star Wars technology, we can see that the issues raised by Federalists 4 through 8 have not disappeared.And three reasons may account for the ignorance of geostrategic vision. First, it seems imperialistic; second, it is inconspicuous in the constitution; third, it seems not as important as other principles in constitutional case law.
And what Europeans can learn from the first part are mainly of two aspects: demilitarization and conducive to commerce. Poland’s fears toward Germany shows that military risks are still believed to exist in Europe whose geostrategy is different from America. Thus, a transitional legal structures to demilitarize the continent is in demand. NATO just provides a model of it. Also, economic cooperation and demilitarization have an intimate association with each other according to Federalists 4 and 6.One is that commercial intercourse can strengthen ties between different regions. The other is that it provides a chance for navies and commercial navigation to promote each other. Moreover, confederation need less money to sustain army and thus promote the economy.Given these reasons, Europeans should develop institutions like EEC to promote intracontinental free trade.
The second part of the paper is about federalism. Some platitudes about the values of “federalism” such as it can allow more experiments and keep diversities do not catch the main point.The key value of federalism is the protection against government.And there are three mechanisms to assure this value.
The first mechanism, “legal check” of federalism contains two portions. One is that each branch of government can thwart a national law it deems unconstitutional. The other is that if a citizen’s constitutional rights are violated by the federal or state government, he can invoke remedies furnished by a structurally independent government.
The second mechanism is called “military check.”In America, the military power is shared between center and periphery. And according to Federalists 28 and 46, the army can be used to put down local insurrection or thwart national tyranny.Nonetheless, “military check” can be abused, just as the American Civil War.But despite this, Eastern Europe, especially the Soviet Union should learn something from this mechanism. And the main function of militia is not to really use it, but offer an underlying restraint for the abuse of professional army from the central government.
“Political check” is the last mechanism. It means that state governments can speak out against federal policies and seek the amendment. In 1798-99, state governments played roles like the institutional press or opposite party today. This serves as the midwife of two pioneering works: the First Amendment protection of press and the birth of the party system.This point is especially important for Eastern Europe, for this offers an alternative to check if the leader is capable.
And the major difference between the federalism of America and Eastern Europe is that American states are far more similarthan the ethnic regions of some Eastern European countries.But there is still some problems of this point in American federalism, so the Old World should better turn to Canada on this topic.
The last part of this paper is about civilian supremacy. Because America’s geostrategic position leaded to a small amount of army, civilian supremacy was not a hot issue before. But today, America has a sizable national standing army. Two reasons may account for why military is still subordinate to civilian officials: constitution text and tradition. And the tradition of civilian supremacy was set largely because of the models set by George Washington and Robert E.Lee. Also, American military schools adapt the spirit of civilian supremacy. Eastern Europe needs to use constitution texts and pay serious attentions to the military training institutions to establish civilian supremacy.
Taking the arguments above into consideration, the success experiment of America in self-rule offers lessons for not only Eastern Europe but also the whole mankind.
[1]Akhil Reed Amar, Some New World Lessons for the Old World,Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository,1-1-1991
Jingwen Sun
