# XVI: The Same Subject Continued (The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union) explained — The Federalist Papers > Chapter companion for The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton. ## What happens Hamilton argues that the principle of legislating for states in their collective capacities, as seen in the Articles of Confederation, leads to anarchy and civil war. He contrasts this with the Lycian and Achaean leagues, which were freer from this defect. He warns that enforcing compliance through military force would be impractical and would likely result in the dissolution of the Union. Instead, the national government must operate directly on individuals, using courts and ordinary magistrates, to avoid the need for coercion and to preserve the Union. ## Themes in this chapter ### Federalism and the Necessity of Union Hamilton argues that the current confederation is insufficient to preserve the Union, and that a stronger federal government operating directly on individuals is necessary. ### Control of Faction and Majority Tyranny The essay warns that delinquent states may unite in factions, leading to civil war, and that the national government must be able to suppress such disturbances. ### Human Nature and the Capacity for Self-Government Hamilton discusses how passions, ambition, and resentment can drive states to conflict, and that the government must appeal to the hopes and fears of individuals. ## Character check-ins ### Publius Author of the essay, addressing the people of New York. ### Alexander Hamilton Likely author of this Federalist Paper, arguing for a stronger national government. ### The Achaeans Cited as an example of a confederacy that avoided the principle of legislating for states in their collective capacities. ### The Judges Mentioned as potential guardians of the Constitution against unconstitutional state laws. ## Key lines > The tendency of the principle of legislation for states, or communities, in their political capacities, as it has been exemplified by the experiment we have made of it, is equally attested by the events which have befallen all other governments of the confederate kind, of which we have any account, in exact proportion to its prevalence in those systems. The idea of making laws for states as collective bodies has failed in our own experience and in all historical confederacies, and the more they relied on that principle, the worse they fared. _Hamilton sets up his argument by asserting that the principle of governing states collectively is inherently flawed._ > It has been seen that delinquencies in the members of the Union are its natural and necessary offspring; and that whenever they happen, the only constitutional remedy is force, and the immediate effect of the use of it, civil war. When states fail to comply with the national government, the only option under the current system is to use force, which inevitably leads to civil war. _Hamilton highlights the fatal flaw of the Articles of Confederation: the lack of a peaceful enforcement mechanism._ > The government of the Union, like that of each state, must be able to address itself immediately to the hopes and fears of individuals; and to attract to its support those passions which have the strongest influence upon the human heart. The national government must be able to directly affect individual citizens, just as state governments do, to harness their natural motivations. _Hamilton argues for direct federal authority over individuals, bypassing state intermediaries._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_federalist_papers_se/chapters/xvi-the-same-subject-continued-the-insufficiency-of-the-present-confederation-to-preserve-the-union - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_federalist_papers_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_federalist_papers_se/chapters