320
Basic Constitutional Concepts
most favorable’’ form of government ever created to promote the ‘‘prosperity and freedom of man.’’
Half a century later, the distinguished British statesman and legal
scholar James Bryce published The American Commonwealth (1888), a profound, comprehensive, and sympathetic analysis of American institutions that ranks with Tocqueville’s work as one of the great American political classics. Like Tocqueville, Lord Bryce was favorably impressed by
American federalism, notwithstanding his personal allegiance to the
unitary system of Great Britain. He found federalism particularly well
adapted to American soil because it united the States without extinguishing their governments and local traditions, and also supplied ‘‘the
best means of developing a new and vast country.’’ Moreover, he thought
that the American system stimulated interest in local affairs, encouraged
constructive experimentation in legislation and administration, and ‘‘relieved the national legislature of a part of that large mass of functions
which might otherwise prove too heavy for it.’’ Echoing Tocqueville,
Bryce equated federalism with freedom and surmised that it had made a
valuable contribution to the welfare of the American people by preventing the rise of ‘‘despotic central government’’ in the United States.
What was the secret of American federalism, and why had it succeeded while so many of man’s earlier attempts at confederation had
failed? On this question, Tocqueville and Bryce were of one mind. What
particularly impressed Tocqueville was the fact that the general government of the United States operated directly on individuals rather than on
the States. ‘‘This constitution,’’ he explained,
which may at first sight be confounded with the [con]federal constitutions which preceded it, rests upon a novel theory, which may be considered as a great invention in modern political science.
Continuing, Tocqueville pointed out that in all previous confederations,
the allied States had agreed to obey the laws passed by the general government, but had reserved to themselves the right to enforce them. Under the arrangement drafted in 1787, however, the new Federal government would exercise both the law making and law enforcement
functions, thereby avoiding one of the major problems experienced under the Articles of Confederation—the reluctance and even the inability