Responding to ijusluvit; again forgive my wordiness.

You really raise some interesting and very insightful points, which I guess you'll be able to tell, I have opinions about. To address part of your response: The Embargo Act is a perfect example of why the US Constitution limits the powers of the "federal" government. Let me start by saying the Embargo Act was repelled three days before Jefferson left office. Why? Because the states believed it threatened their sovereign powers. And they were correct.

What prompted Jefferson and the Congress to enact the Embargo Act isn't proof of their desire for a more centric government or more federal guidance. They had just fought and were still fighting to get away from that form of government. The Embargo Act was a horrible mistake that Jefferson admitted to before he repelled it.

Jefferson and other "founders" had many different views and ideas about government. That is why Jefferson drafted the Bill of Rights, the first amendments to the Constitution. Still, the Constitution allows for these differences to be represented from the local level and the states without destroying the nation or demanding everyone believe in the same thing.

The Embargo Act was a true test of the Constittution and states rights. It was enacted while America was just a little more than 20 years independent from British rule. The British were using impressment to capture sailors on our ships they suspected of being British citizens and forcing them into the Royal Navy. The Embargo Act stopped this but drove up prices of shipping overseas and caused problems for the states who depended on import and export.

The cause of the Embargo Act was the Napoleonic Wars, the series of wars that broke out after the French Revolution. The Napoleonic War limited free enterprise and trade. By forbidding trade with either side, including England and France, Jefferson hoped to keep the new Americas neutral. But it was a disaster. The British Orders in Council and the French Continental System forbade trade to nations friends to these nations.

When I think of a new nation being built at a time like this in world history, I am all the more impressed with the founders of this nation creating a Federalist Republic Constitutional government.

Even the Lousiana Purchase, which Jefferson struggled with and admitted may not be Constititional, was done in hopes of securing our trade ports and allowing exploration westward and was done as an act of foreign affairs with other nations, which Jefferson believed to be one of the roles of the federal government. "This little event, of France's possessing herself of Louisiana is the embryo of a tornado which will burst on the countries on both sides of the Atlantic and involve in it's effects their highest destinies, " Jefferson wrote.

You asked about the role of the first Coast Guard in the formation of the federal government. Again, the Embargo Act and the history leading up to the Act will explain my point. The world moved by sea. Countries were protected by invasion by sea. That is why our Federal government was given permission by the states in the constitution to protect our borders from invasion.

During this time in American history, the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair took place on June 22, 1807. Basically it involved the British warship HMS Leopard and the American USS Chesapeake. The British were guarding the US port at Chesapeake, Va., against imports from the French.

Although not the direct cause, it certainly was one incident that lead to the War of 1812. Anyway, when the Chesapeake was fired upon by the British when the Americans refused to allow British soldiers to board to look for deserters from the British Navy, we fought back. We lost.

The Americans were outraged and the American Ambassador to Great Britain, James Monroe, then a foreign minister acting under U.S. Secretary of State James Madison, made many demands including the British keep their warships out of U.S. territorial waters. Americans wanted revenge, not just words. But Jefferson turned to diplomacy with the Embargo Act. It failed and the states rights were upheld.


Just something to think about. Why do we say federal government? Have you ever thought about that? It is because we have a federalist republic form of government in this country.

Federalism as defined by Noah Webster: the distribution of power in an organization (as a government) between a central authority and the constituent units.

So now we must define the Republic part of our government:

Republic: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.

It is such a unique and beautiful thing. It gives us the greatest liberty, freedoms and individuality respecting others rights known to any civilation. We, you and me, have the power on the local level to vote and choice people who are like us to represent us on the very smallest of local levels. We know these people who may be our neighbors and friends. It isn't a single person in most cases, it is a group of individuals who make up, say a town council or a county board of supervisors. This way, each voice gets represented in the fairest manner known to man.

To make things jive between localities within this state, we can vote and have people who represent our local interests on the state level. The premise is to have the voices of your neighborhood heard.

Then to represent our state's interest on the limited federal level, we have representatives for that as well. This way, there isn't one majority of opinion that prevails and overlooks the voices of the minorities in a locality. It is representative of voices from the smallest local level. When we give these decisions over to others, we never get them back.