8155. STATES, Division of authority.—
The way to have good and safe government,
is not to trust it all to one, but to
divide it among the many, distributing to
every one exactly the functions he is competent
to. Let the National Government be
entrusted with the defence of the nation, and
its foreign and federal relations; the State
governments with the civil rights, laws,
police, and administration of what concerns
the State generally; the counties with the
local concerns of the counties, and each ward
direct the interests within itself. It is by
dividing and subdividing these republics from
the great national one down through all its
subordinations, until it ends in the administration
of every man's farm by himself; by
placing under every one what his own eye
may superintend, that all will be done for the
best.—
To Joseph C. Cabell. Washington ed. vi, 543.
(M.
1816)
See Centralization.
