ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the federative republic of which Montesquieu speaks in The Spirit of the Laws. It provides useful insights into the theory and practice of American Federalism. The public good in a small republic is “better felt, better known, and nearer each citizen.” The relation of the small republic to the confederation is somewhat like that of the citizen to the small republic. The commercial republic must attempt to preserve the spirit of commerce through the activity of the principal citizens and through laws taxing the rich sufficiently to require them to work to maintain their fortune. A combination of love of liberty, the commercial spirit with its own kind of frugality, and certain political institutions performs in England and other modern commercial republics the task that virtue performed in ancient republics. Despite certain disagreements, however, Madison’s views on the modern commercial republic seem to be similar to Montesquieu’s.
