Hierarchy of Associations in the New Order
          "the republican Principle"

Now let's apply Hamiliton's explanation found in Letter #33 of "The Federalist Papers" concerning the principle of the hierarchy of associations to the diagram that represents our Republic. He states:

"If individuals enter into a state of society, the laws of that society must be the supreme regulator of their conduct. If a number of political societies enter into a larger political society, the laws which the latter may enact, pursuant to the powers intrusted to it by its constitution, must necessarily be supreme over those societies and the individuals of whom they are composed. It would otherwise be a mere treaty, dependent on the good faith of the parties, and not a government, which is only another word for POLITICAL POWER AND SUPREMACY. But it will not follow from this doctrine that acts of the larger society which are not pursuant to its constitutional powers, but which are invasions of the residuary authorities of the smaller societies, will become the supreme law of the land. These will be merely acts of usurpation, and will deserve to be treated as such. Hence we perceive that the clause which declares the supremacy of the laws of the Union, like the one we have just before considered, only declares a truth which flows immediately and necessarily from the institution of a federal government. It will not, I presume, have escaped observation that it expressly confines this supremacy to laws made pursuant to the Constitution; which I mention merely as an instance of caution in the convention; since that limitation would have been to be understood, though it had not been expressed.

 As I stated earlier in the Explanation for Figure #2, dictionaries were not in existence.  I stated that they instead used the King James Version of the Bible and Sir Walter Blackstone's Commentary on Law.  The latter part of that statement might be misleading to a casual observer.  To be exact, the Congress adopted an edition written by a close friend of Thomas Jefferson. His name was George Tucker.  He was a law professor.  It became known as the Tucker's Edition of Blackstone's Commentary.  Let me illustrate one of the main reasons why they accepted Tucker's Edition. It can be found in Section 11 of Tucker's Edition of Blackstone's Commentary on Law entitled "Of the Nature of Laws in General".  Blackstone states the following in paragraphs 25-27 explaining where the rights of sovereignty reside:

"How the several forms of government we now see in the world at first actually began, is matter of great uncertainty, and has occasioned infinite disputes.[9] It is not my business or intention to enter into any of them. However they began, or by what right soever they subsist, there is and must be in all of them a supreme, irresistible, absolute, uncontrolled authority, in which the jura summi imperii or the rights of sovereignty, reside. And this authority is placed in those hands, wherein (according to the opinion of the founders of such respective states, either expressly given, or collected from their tacit approbation) the qualities requisite for supremacy, wisdom, goodness, and power, are the most likely to be found."

"The political writers of antiquity will not allow more than three regular forms of government; the first, when the sovereign power is lodged in an aggregate assembly consisting of all the free members of a community, which is called a democracy; the second, when it is lodged in a council, composed of select members, and then it is stiled an aristocracy; the last, when it is entrusted in the hands of a single person, and then it takes the name of a monarchy. All other species of government, they say, are either corruptions of, or reducible to, these three."

"By the sovereign power, as was before observed, is meant the making of laws; for wherever that power resides, all others must conform to, and be directed by it, whatever appearance the outward form and administration of the government may put on. For it is at any time in the option of the legislature to alter that form and administration by a new edict or rule, and to put the execution of the laws into whatever hands it pleases; by constituting one, or a few, or many executive magistrates: and all the other powers of the state must obey the legislative power in the discharge of their several functions, or else the constitution is at an end.[10]"

The #10 that exists at the end of the quote indicates that Tucker has something to say concerning Blackstone's comments on where the rights of sovereignty reside. Here are his comments listed in footnote #10.:

[10] 5. In a former note, (Appendix, note A,) we endeavoured to shew that this maxim does not apply to the governments of the American States; by whose respective Constitutions, as also by the Constitution of the Federal Government, the legislative power is restrained within certain limits, both in the Federal and State Governments, which neither the Congress, nor the State Legislatures can transgress, without an absolute breach of the Constitutions from whence the Legislative Authority is derived. For, both the Federal, and State Constitutions derive their authority and existence from the immediate act, and consent of the people, "in whom" as our bill of rights expresses it, "all power is vested, and consequently, is derived from them." These acts of the people having, then, the stamp of primitive authority, must be paramount to the act of the Legislative body, which derives its authority, and even its existence from that origin.[11] And since the powers of the Legislature are thus limited, it follows that the Jura summi imperii, or that supreme, irresistible, absolute, uncontrolled authority, of which the commentator makes mention in a preceding paragraph, doth not reside in the legislature, nor in any other of the branches of the Government, nor in the whole of them united. For if it did reside in them, or either of them, then would there be no limits, such as may be found in all the American Constitutions, to the powers of Government. The existence of such limits proves the existence of an higher power elsewhere; that is, in the PEOPLE; in whom, and in whom, only, the rights of sovereignty remain: the people, therefore, only, and not the Legislature, have it at any time in their option to alter the form and administration of Government, by a new edict or rule, and to put the execution of their authority into whatever hands they please: and all the powers of the State, the Legislature as well as the rest, must obey them in the execution of their several functions, or the Constitution will, indeed, be at an end. For the Constitution is a law to the Government, "which derives its just powers therefrom, as from the consent of the governed, for whose benefit that power is entrusted, and by whom, whenever it is abused, or exceeded, it may be revoked, and a new government instituted." See the American Declaration of Independence, July 1776.

His comments are consistent with Alexander Hamilton when applying the concept of limited government to the hierarchy of associations that exist in America under the Declaration of Independence

This diagram illustrates the context of the different levels of jurisdiction under "the rule of law". The different colors represent the principle of "enumerated powers" or limits of the law placed within the different levels of government. This principle applies to the powers granted in the constitutions of each jurisdiction. The diagram identifies the constituents and illustrates the limits of the federal laws that are to be Supreme when made in pursuance of the powers granted under the new federal  constitution. Federal law  can only be directed to the constituents (the States) and not to the individual counties, cities, towns, or people in those States. If it extended beyond the boundries of a State, it would become a national government instead of a federal government.

It illustrates " a republican form of government".  It should be noted that the color for the federal level did not exist until the federal constitution was adopted.  It is consistent with the principle describing the limits of an association within a hierarchy of associations as described by Alexander Hamilton in Letter #33 of "The Federalist Papers" as he explains the rule of law in America.

It illustrates the context of the limits of all levels of government. It illustrates the context of the comments of St. George Tucker (below) concerning enumerated powers in Blackstone's Commentary on Law; and it is consistent with the comments made by Chief Justice Marshall in the Marbury v. Madison case. 

 In Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, it states "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government" This form of government was meant to be permanent.
 

The same "republican principle" applies when the People of different jurisdictions within a given State come together as an association and agree upon a written state constitution that protects the safety and sovereignty of each small politic.

A State constitution is similiar to the constitutions of the smaller associations in that the powers given to the elected leaders are limited. The laws passed by the state, that are pursuent to the state constitution, are supreme.  However, the elected state leaders can not interpret their right to govern as a right to interfer with the laws that regulate the conduct of citizens within a smaller local community.

Every  political constitution in America is a law defining the limits of power granted to the elected leaders of that politic. In other words, the elected public servants of a particular politic have the limited power to govern the constituents of their politic pursuant to the constitutional powers enumerated to them by their constituents. The laws created by the elected leaders of that association shall be considered as supreme and shall apply to all persons while in that jurisdiction. The constitutents of the association are the members. Thus the jurisdiction of an association includes all the area of land where the constituents reside.           

Whenever U.S. citizens come together in the area of the State in which they reside and agree upon a written constitution for the purpose of protecting and exercising their civil rights, as defined in the Declaration of Independence, they establish a jurisdiction.  The laws passed in that local politic will be the supreme regulator of their conduct.

Every level of government is seen as a political association. Each association  has a  job description or law for its elected leaders.  This job description or constitution is created by the constituents of the politic with enumerated powers. The shaded area within any given circle represents the government created by the constituents of that particular association. It also represents the limits expressed as enumerated powers of that association's  jurisdiction.