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Declaration of Intergovernmental Dependence of 1937
Introduction by Dan Meador
The declaration of intergovernmental dependence that follows is published on pages 142 & 143 of The Book of the States, Volume 2, Book 2. Delegates who attended the third general assembly of the Council of State Governments signed it. The Council of State Governments, which now has headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky, was incorporated in 1933 as the product primarily of members of the Council of State Legislators. Both were financed to a great extent by the Spelman Fund, which was and possibly still is a fund of the Rockefeller Foundation. A declaration of intergovernmental dependence was signed at the general assembly held in Denver in 1935, but a limited number of states were represented. Representatives of the several states have since signed at least one similar declaration. The Council of State Governments is among the coordinating agencies for uniform laws adopted by state legislatures. The Council of State Governments is contemporaneously classified as a government entity, albeit a third tier of “nonconstitutional” government. Most funding is currently appropriated by state governments. The following declaration provided the early ideological framework and rationalization for the state and local government side of Federalism, also known as Cooperative Federalism.
Declaration of Interdependence of the Governments within the United States of America in Common Council
Signed at Washington, District of Columbia, on January 22, 1937 by delegates to the Third General Assembly of the Council of State Governments.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a nation to repair the fabric which unites its many agencies of government, and to restore the solidarity which is vital to orderly growth, it is the duty of responsible officials to define the need and to find a way to meet it.
A way does not come of itself. The maintenance of just and efficient government is as intricate, as arduous, and as inoperative as any human endeavor. One hundred and fifty years ago our forefathers faced their necessity and formed a new union. The found a way.
And from that beginning in 1787 sprang history’s finest example of the democratic form of government—a government dedicated to the preservation of every man’s endowment of life, liberty, and happiness.
Inevitable changes have come. The fundamental patter of states united for the benefit of all the people remains the same as it was when the Founding Fathers wove it. But the far-flung tapestry of our many governments has stretched so taut that the fabric has weakened. The essential thread of cooperation too often is lacking.
Now, for the first time since the memorable day when the form of our Constitution was determined, official delegates of the states are gathered together with representatives of their local governments, as good neighbors, seeking to revive the original purpose—“to form a more perfect union.”
It was meant that the states, while creating a nation, should yet preserve their own sovereignties and a maximum of self-government. But now if the claim of states’ rights is to prevail, it must be justified by a demonstration of states’ competence. When our union was formed, there was no land transportation, nor any remote communication, except by the plodding foot of horse or man. But since that time our society has been revolutionized by the advent of transportation as swift as the wind and of communication more rapid than lightning. Our area has trebled. The number of our people has increased beyond belief.
How have our governments met their mutual problems brought by this modern era?
They have developed a “No Man’s Land” of jurisdiction.
In thousands of instances their laws are in conflict, their practices are discordant, their regulations are antagonistic, and their policies are either competitive or repugnant to one another.
In taxation alone, scores of conflicts between federal and state laws exist.
The interstate criminal is a standing headline on Page One of every newspaper.
The forty-eight states pass laws on crime, labor, taxation, relief, corporations, parole, domestic relations, and other questions momentous to our social and economic system, with no thought of harmony. And this discord has been further stitched into our pattern of life by all other agencies possessing the power of legislation.
This is not as it should be.
The trend of federal-state projects, exemplified by social security, demands immediate action if those projects are to succeed completely.
All officials should conduct their own governments properly. But we hold that they must act with earnest regard also to the other units of government. The bonds of good will and the lines of communication which connect our many interdependent governments must be immeasurably strengthened.
Through established agencies of cooperation, through uniform and reciprocal laws and regulations, through compacts under the Constitution, through informal collaboration, and through all other means possible, our nation, our states, and our localities must fuse their activities with a new fervor of national unity.
We, therefore, as representatives of the officers of government here assembled, do solemnly pledge our loyal efforts to the accomplishment of such purposes.
As our forefathers by the Declaration of Independence affirmed their purpose to improve government for us, so do we by this Declaration of Interdependence affirm our purpose to improve government for our contemporaries and for our posterity.
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