Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/498

 458 in the other, in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of people comprehended under the same government. This view of the subject must particularly recommend a proper federal system to all the sincere and considerate friends of republican government; since it shows, that in exact proportion, as the territory of the Union may be formed into more circumscribed confederacies, or states, oppressive combinations of a majority will be facilitated; the best security under the republican form, for the rights of every class of citizens, will be diminished; and consequently, the stability and independence of some member of the government, the only other security, must be proportionably increased. Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be, pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society, under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign, as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger. And, as in the latter state, even the stronger individuals are prompted by the uncertainty of their condition to submit to a government, which may protect the weak, as well as themselves: so, in the former state, will the more powerful factions be gradually induced, by a like motive, to wish for a government, which will protect all parties, the weaker, as well as the more powerful. It can be little doubted, that if the state of Rhode-Island was separated from the confederacy, and left to itself, the insecurity of rights, under the popular form of government within such narrow limits, would be displayed by such reiterated oppressions of the factious majorities, that some power, altogether independent of the people, would soon be called for by the voice of the very factions, whose misrule had proved the necessity of it. In the extended republic of the United States, and among the great variety of interests, parties, and sects, which it embraces, a coalition of a majority of the whole society could seldom take place upon any other principles, than those of justice, and the general good; whilst there being thus less danger to a minor, from the will of the major party, there must be less pretext also to provide for the security of the former, by introducing into the government a will not dependent on the latter; or, in other words, a will independent of the society itself. It is no less certain, that it is important, notwithstanding the contrary opinions, which have been entertained, that the larger the society, provided it lie within a practicable sphere, the more duly capable it will be of self-government. And happily for the republican cause, the practicable sphere may be carried to a very great extent, by a judicious modification and mixture of the federal principle." § 475. The union of these states, "the more perfect union" is, then, and must for ever be invaluable to all, in