Federalist No. 46

Federalist No. 46

James Madison, author of Federalist No. 46
Author	James Madison
Original title	The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared
Language	English
Series	The Federalist
Publisher	New York Packet
Publication date	January 29, 1788
Publication place	United States
Media type	Newspaper
Preceded by	Federalist No. 45
Followed by	Federalist No. 47

This article is part of a series about James Madison
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Federalist No. 46 is an essay by James Madison, the forty-sixth of The Federalist Papers. It was first published by The New York Packet on January 29, 1788, under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all The Federalist papers were published. This essay examines the relative strength of the state and federal governments under the proposed United States Constitution. It is titled "The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared".

Madison reaffirmed the arguments made in previous papers by Alexander Hamilton. In this paper, Madison asserts the advantages that state governments have over the federal government in terms of securing the support of the people and resisting encroachments.

In previous papers Madison labored to convince his readers that the system proposed by the constitution would lead to stable and energetic government. However, he describes at length in this paper a series of hypothetical conflicts between state and federal government. Madison does not expect or hope the constitution to lead to the kind of conflict between state and federal authority described here. Rather, he seeks to rebut the arguments that he anticipates from opponents of the constitution by asserting that their "chimerical" predictions of the federal government crushing state governments are unfounded.

Madison reminds his audience that the American people are the common superior of both the federal and state governments. He stresses that the Federal and State governments have differing powers, and are both subjected to the ultimate control of the voters.^[1]