The article discusses centralization in the U.S. government. The author discusses a council held by British general Edward Braddock at which it was suggested that British colonies should be taxed to help finance the war against the French and Indians in North America, leading to the U.S. Revolutionary War. The influence of political scholar Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, on American political science and the separation of powers in the U.S. Constitution is noted. The author suggests that the U.S. Congress has legislated excessive taxation and discusses how former U.S. president Grover Cleveland sold bonds to resolve currency depreciation brought about by Congress's passage of the U.S. Bland-Allison Act and the U.S. Sherman Silver Act.