But the central constitutional question facing the EU would be instantly recognisable to a Madison or a Hamilton: how much power should individual states retain, and how much should be handed over to a central, federal authority?
...the original arrangement of which resulted, 80 years later, in a war to settle different interpretations of that very issue. And that was between people with a common language and pretty much a common cultural heritage, at least by comparison to the members of the EU. This is not a light matter.