Republican (constitutionalist) former President Jefferson writing to Major John Cartwright, of the Nottinghamshire, England Militia, explains the proper balance of federalism:
With respect to our State and federal governments, I do not think their relations correctly understood by foreigners. They generally suppose the former subordinate to the latter. But this is not the case. They are co-ordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. … The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government; neither having control over the other, but within its own department.
[updated 8/29/2026]
Subsequent Events:
References:
Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to Major John Cartwright,” (June 5, 1824), Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed., (New York: Library of America, 1984), 1490, 1493.
Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Hamilton’s Curse: How Jefferson’s arch-enemy betrayed the American Revolution — and what it means today, (New York: Crown-Forum, 2008), 15-16n13.
Current U.s. National Debt:
