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Man Is Either Governed By His Own Laws - Freedom - Or The Laws Of Another - Slavery. Are You Willing To Become Slaves? Will You Give Up Your Freedom, Your Life And Your Property Without A Single Struggle? No Man Has A Right To Rule Over His Fellow Creatures.

-Alexander Hamilton

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Man Is Either Governed

Alexander Hamilton

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Man Is Either Governed By His Own Laws - Freedom - Or The Laws Of Another - Slavery. Are You Willing To Become Slaves? Will You Give Up Your Freedom, Your Life And Your Property Without A Single Struggle? No Man Has A Right To Rule Over His Fellow Creatures.

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The Same State Of The Passions Which Fits The Multitude, Who Have Not A Sufficient Stock Of Reason And Knowledge To Guide Them, For Opposition To Tyranny And Oppression, Very Naturally Leads Them To A Contempt And Disregard Of All Authority.

It Is Impossible Not To Bestow The Imputation Of Deliberate Imposture And Deception Upon The Gross Pretense Of A Similitude Between A King Of Great Britain And A Magistrate Of The Character Marked Out For That Of The President Of The United States. It Is Still More Impossible To Withhold That Imputation From The Rash And Barefaced Expedients Which Have Been Employed To Give Success To The Attempted Imposition.

A Fondness For Power Is Implanted In Most Men, And It Is Natural To Abuse It When Acquired. This Maxim, Drawn From The Experience Of All Ages, Makes It The Height Of Folly To Intrust Any Set Of Men With Power Which Is Not Under Every Possible Control; Perpetual Strides Are Made After More As Long As There Is Any Part Withheld.

These Powers Ought To Exist Without Limitation, Because It Is Impossible To Foresee Or To Define The Extent And Variety Of National Exigencies, And The Correspondent Extent And Variety Of The Means Which May Be Necessary To Satisfy Them.

Those Who Do Not Industrialize Become Hewers Of Wood And Hawkers Of Water

For My Part, I Sincerely Esteem The Constitution, A System Which Without The Finger Of God, Never Could Have Been Suggested And Agreed Upon By Such A Diversity Of Interests.

A Treaty Cannot Be Made Which Alters The Constitution Of The Country, Or Which Infringes And Express Exceptions To The Power Of The Constitution.

Good And Wise Men, In All Ages, Have Embraced A Very Dissimilar Theory. They Have Supposed That The Deity, From The Relations We Stand In To Himself And To Each Other, Has Constituted An Eternal And Immutable Law, Which Is Indispensably Obligatory Upon All Mankind, Prior To Any Human Institution Whatever. This Is What Is Called The Law Of Nature....upon This Law Depend The Natural Rights Of Mankind.

The Great Leading Objects Of The Federal Government, In Which Revenue Is Concerned, Are To Maintain Domestic Peace, And Provide For The Common Defense.

After An Unequivocal Experience Of The Inefficacy Of The Subsisting Federal Government, You Are Called Upon To Deliberate On A New Constitution For The United States Of America.

Now, Mark My Words. So Long As We Are A Young And Virtuous People, This Instument Will Bind Us Together In Mutual Interests, Mutual Welfare, And Mutual Happiness. But When We Become Old And Corrupt, It Will Bind No Longer.

Mutual Interest

It Is A General Principle Of Human Nature, That A Man Will Be Interested In Whatever He Possesses, In Proportion To The Firmness Or Precariousness Of The Tenure By Which He Holds It; Will Be Less Attached To What He Holds By A Momentary Or Uncertain Title, Than To What He Enjoys By A Durable Or Certain Title; And, Of Course, Will Be Willing To Risk More For The Sake Of The One, Than For The Sake Of The Other.

The Courts Must Declare The Sense Of The Law; And If They Should Be Disposed To Exercise Will Instead Of Judgement; The Consequences Would Be The Substitution Of Their Pleasure For That Of The Legislative Body.

There Are Still To Be Found Visionary Or Designing Men, Who Stand Ready To Advocate The Paradox Of Perpetual Peace Between The States, Though Dismembered And Alienated From Each Other.... The Genius Of Republics, Say They, Is Pacific; The Spirit Of Commerce Has A Tendency To Soften The Manners Of Men, And To Extinguish Those Inflammable Humours Which Have So Often Kindled Into Wars. Commercial Republics, Like Ours, Will Never Be Disposed To Waste Themselves In Ruinous Contentions With Each Other. They Will Be Governed By Mutual Interest, And Will Cultivate A Spirit Of Mutual Amity And Concord.

Mutual Interest

It Will Be Forgotten, On The One Hand, That Jealousy Is The Usual Concomitant Of Violent Love, And That The Noble Enthusiasm Of Liberty Is Too Apt To Be Infected With A Spirit Of Narrow And Illiberal Distrust. On The Other Hand, It Will Be Equally Forgotten, That The Vigour Of Government Is Essential To The Security Of Liberty.

I Confess I Am At A Loss To Discover What Temptation The Persons Entrusted With The Administration Of The General Government Could Ever Feel To Divest The States Of The Authorities Of That Description. The Regulation Of The Mere Domestic Police Of A State Appears To Me To Hold Out Slender Allurements To Ambition.

A National Debt If It Is Not Excessive Will Be To Us A National Blessing; It Will Be Powerfull Cement Of Our Union. It Will Also Create A Necessity For Keeping Up Taxation To A Degree Which Without Being Oppressive, Will Be A Spur To Industry.

The Awful Discretion, Which A Court Of Impeachments Must Necessarily Have, To Doom To Honor Or To Infamy The Most Confidential And The Most Distinguished Characters Of The Community, Forbids The Commitment Of The Trust To A Small Number Of Persons.

[t]here Is Not A Syllable In The Plan Under Consideration Which Directly Empowers The National Courts To Construe The Laws According To The Spirit Of The Constitution.

To Cherish And Stimulate The Activity Of The Human Mind, By Multiplying The Objects Of Enterprise, Is Not Among The Least Considerable Of The Expedients, By Which The Wealth Of A Nation May Be Promoted. Even Things In Themselves Not Positively Advantageous, Sometimes Become So, By Their Tendency To Provoke Exertion. Every New Scene, Which Is Opened To The Busy Nature Of Man To Rouse And Exert Itself, Is The Addition Of A New Energy To The General Stock Of Effort.

For, When The Credit Of A Country Is In Any Degree Questionable, It Never Fails To Give On Extravagant Premium, In One Shape Or Another, Upon All The Loans It Has Occasion To Make. Nor Does The Evil End Here; The Same Disadvantage Must Be Sustained Upon Whatever Is To Be Bought On Terms Of Future Payment. From This Constant Necessity Of Borrowing And Buying Dear, It Is Easy To Conceive How Immensely The Expenses Of A Nation, In A Course Of Time, Will Be Augmented By An Unsound State Of The Public Credit.

The President, And Government, Will Only Control The Militia When A Part Of Them Is In The Actual Service Of The Federal Government, Else, They Are Independent And Not Under The Command Of The President Or The Government. The States Would Control The Militia, Only When Called Out Into The Service Of The State, And Then The Governor Would Be Commander In Chief Where Enumerated In The Respective State Constitution.

It Is The Press Which Has Corrupted Our Political Morals - And It Is To The Press We Must Look For The Means Of Our Political Regeneration.

There Are Some Who Maintain That Trade Will Regulate Itself, And It Is Not To Be Benefited By The Encouragements Or Restraints Of Government. Such Persons Will Imagine That There Is No Need Of A Common Directing Power. This Is One Of Those Wild Speculative Paradoxes, Which Have Grown Into Credit Among Us, Contrary To The Uniform Practice And Sense Of The Most Enlightened Nations.

In This Distribution Of Powers The Wisdom Of Our Constitution Is Manifested. It Is The Province And Duty Of The Executive To Preserve To The Nation The Blessings Of Peace. The Legislature Alone Can Interrupt Those Blessings, By Placing The Nation In A State Of War.

Distribution Of Power

It Has Been Observed, [that For The Federal Government] To Coerce The States Is One Of The Maddest Projects That Was Ever Devised.

Ambition Without Principle Never Was Long Under The Guidance Of Good Sense.

It Is By Far The Safer Course To Lay [considerations Of The Future] Altogether Aside; And To Confine Our Attention Wholly To The Nature And Extent Of The Powers As They Are Delineated In The Constitution. Everything Beyond This, Must Be Left To The Prudence And Firmness Of The People; Who, As They Will Hold The Scales In Their Own Hands, It Is To Be Hoped, Will Always Take Care To Preserve The Constitutional Equilibrium Between The General And State Governments.

The Citizens Of America Have Too Much Discernment To Be Argued Into Anarchy. And I Am Much Mistaken, If Experience Has Not Wrought A Deep And Solemn Conviction In The Public Mind, That Greater Energy Of Government Is Essential To The Welfare And Prosperity Of The Community

It Is A General Principle Of Human Nature, That A Man Will Be Interested In Whatever He Possesses, In Proportion To The Firmness Or Precariousness Of The Tenure By Which He Holds It.

It Is Presumable That No Country Will Be Able To Borrow Of Foreigners Upon Better Terms Than The United States, Because None Can, Perhaps, Afford So Good Security.

Every Individual Of The Community At Large Has An Equal Right To The Protection Of Government.

We Are Attempting, By This Constitution, To Abolish Factions, And To Unite All Parties For The General Welfare.

The Deliberative Sense Of The Community Should Govern.

The Vigour Of Government Is Essential To The Security Of Liberty. . . . A Dangerous Ambition More Often Lurks Behind The Specious Mask Of Zeal For The Rights Of The People, Than Under The Forbidding Appearance Of Zeal For The Firmness And Efficiency Of Government.

A Share In The Sovereignty Of The State, Which Is Exercised By The Citizens At Large, In Voting At Elections Is One Of The Most Important Rights Of The Subject, And In A Republic Ought To Stand Foremost In The Estimation Of The Law...that Portion Of The Sovereignty, To Which Each Individual Is Entitled, Can Never Be Too Highly Prized. It Is That For Which We Have Fought And Bled.

[t]he Constitution Ought To Be The Standard Of Construction For The Laws, And That Wherever There Is An Evident Opposition, The Laws Ought To Give Place To The Constitution. But This Doctrine Is Not Deducible From Any Circumstance Peculiar To The Plan Of Convention, But From The General Theory Of A Limited Constitution.

Safety From External Danger Is The Most Powerful Director Of National Conduct. To Be More Safe, [nations] At Length Become Willing To Run The Risk Of Being Less Free.

The Injury Which May Possibly Be Done By Defeating A Few Good Laws, Will Be Amply Compensated By The Advantage Of Preventing A Number Of Bad Ones.

The People Are Turbulent And Changing; They Seldom Judge Right Or Make Good Decision.

When You Assemble From Your Several Counties In The Legislature, Were Every Member To Be Guided Only By The Apparent Interest Of His County, Government Would Be Impracticable. There Must Be A Perpetual Accomodation And Sacrifice Of Local Advantage To General Expediency.

The Principal Purposes To Be Answered By Union Are These The Common Defense Of The Members; The Preservation Of The Public Peace As Well Against Internal Convulsions As External Attacks; The Regulation Of Commerce With Other Nations And Between The States; The Superintendence Of Our Intercourse, Political And Commercial, With Foreign Countries.

If There Are Such Things As Political Axioms, The Propriety Of The Judicial Power Of A Government Being Co-extensive With Its Legislative, May Be Ranked Among The Number.

As The Duties Of Superintending The National Defense And Of Securing The Public Peace Against Foreign Or Domestic Violence Involve A Provision For Casualties And Dangers To Which No Possible Limits Can Be Assigned, The Power Of Making That Provision Ought To Know No Other Bounds Than The Exigencies Of The Nation And The Resources Of The Community.

Domestic Violence

The Experience Of Treaties Being Broken With Impunity Provide An Afflicting Lesson To Mankind How Little Dependence Is To Be Placed On Treaties Which Have No Other Sanction Than The Obligations Of Good Faith; And Which Oppose General Considerations Of Peace And Justice To The Impulse Of Any Immediate Interest And Passion.

If Government Is In The Hands Of The Few, They Will Tyrannize The Many; If In The Hands Of The Many, They Will Tyrannize Over The Few. It Ought To Be In The Hands Of Both, And Be Separated...they Will Need A Mutual Check. This Check Is A Monarch.

The History Of Human Conduct Does Not Warrant That Exalted Opinion Of Human Virtue Which Would Make It Wise In A Nation To Commit Interests Of So Delicate And Momentous A Kind As Those Which Concern Its Intercourse With The Rest Of The World, To The Sole Disposal Of A Magistrate, Created And Circumstanced, As Would Be A President Of The United States.

...that Standing Army Can Never Be Formidable (threatening) To The Liberties Of The People, While There Is A Large Body Of Citizens, Little If At All Inferior To Them In The Use Of Arms.

Though A Wide Ocean Separates The United States From Europe, Yet There Are Various Considerations That Warn Us Against An Excess Of Confidence Or Security.

The Law... Dictated By God Himself Is, Of Course, Superior In Obligation To Any Other. It Is Binding Over All The Globe, In All Countries, And At All Times. No Human Laws Are Of Any Validity If Contrary To This.

Happy Will It Be For Ourselves, And Most Honorable For Human Nature, If We Have Wisdom And Virtue Enough To Set So Glorious An Example To Mankind!

[s]ound Policy Condemns The Practice Of Accumulating Debts.

The Liberty Of The Press Consists In The Right To Publish With Impunity Truth With Good Motives For Justifiable Ends, Though Reflecting On Government, Magistracy, Or Individuals.

The Local Interest Of A State Ought In Every Case To Give Way To The Interests Of The Union. For When A Sacrifice Of One Or The Other Is Necessary, The Former Becomes Only An Apparent, Partial Interest, And Should Yield, On The Principle That The Smaller Good Ought Never To Oppose The Greater Good.

Great Ambition, Unchecked By Principle, Or The Love Of Glory, Is An Unruly Tyrant.

If The Federal Government Should Overpass The Just Bounds Of Its Authority And Make A Tyrannical Use Of Its Powers, The People, Whose Creature It Is, Must Appeal To The Standard They Have Formed, And Take Such Measures To Redress The Injury Done To The Constitution As The Exigency May Suggest And Prudence Justify.

That There May Happen Cases In Which The National Government May Be Necessitated To Resort To Force, Cannot Be Denied.

The [president] Has No Particle Of Spiritual Jurisdiction. . . .

Americans Rouse - Be Unanimous, Be Virtuous, Be Firm, Exert Your Courage, Trust In Heaven, And Nobly Defy The Enemies Both Of God And Man!

[v]igor Of Government Is Essential To The Security Of Liberty.

Man Is Very Much A Creature Of Habit. A Thing That Rarely Strikes His Senses Will Generally Have But Little Influence Upon His Mind. A Government Continually At A Distance And Out Of Sight, Can Hardly Be Expected To Interest The Sensations Of The People. The Inference Is, That The Authority Of The Union, And The Affections Of The Citizens Towards It, Will Be Strengthened Rather Than Weakened By Its Extension To What Are Called Matters Of Internal Concern.

I Never Expect To See A Perfect Work From An Imperfect Man.

If It Were To Be Asked, What Is The Most Sacred Duty And The Greatest Source Of Our Security In A Republic? The Answer Would Be, An Inviolable Respect For The Constitution And Laws - The First Growing Out Of The Last . . . . A Sacred Respect For The Constitutional Law Is The Vital Principle, The Sustaining Energy Of A Free Government.

To Presume A Want Of Motives For Such Contests . . . Would Be To Forget That Men Are Ambitious, Vindictive, And Rapacious.

Let Americans Disdain To Be The Instruments Of European Greatness! Let The Thirteen States, Bound Together In A Strict And Indissoluble Union, Concur In Erecting One Great American System, Superior To The Control Of All Transatlantic Force Or Influence, And Able To Dictate The Terms Of The Connection Between The Old And The New World!

The Loss Of Liberty To A Generous Mind Is Worse Than Death.

As Riches Increase And Accumulate In Few Hands . . . The Tendency Of Things Will Be To Depart From The Republican Standard.

Would There Not Be The Greatest Reason To Apprehend, That Error In The First Sentence Would Be The Parent Of Error In The Second Sentence? That The Strong Bias Of One Decision Would Be Apt To Overrule The Influence Of Any New Lights, Which Might Be Brought To Vary The Complexion Of Another Decision? Those, Who Know Any Thing Of Human Nature, Will Not Hesitate To Answer These Questions In The Affirmative.

The Power Of Creating New Funds Upon New Objects Of Taxation, By Its Own Authority, Would Enable The National Government To Borrow As Far As Its Necessities Might Require.

It Is The Advertiser Who Provides The Paper For The Subscriber. It Is Not To Be Disputed, That The Publisher Of A Newspaper In This Country, Without A Very Exhaustive Advertising Support, Would Receive Less Reward For His Labor Than The Humblest Mechanic.

War, Like Most Other Things, Is A Science To Be Acquired And Perfected By Diligence, By Perserverance, By Time, And By Practice.

It Is Of The Nature Of War To Increase The Executive At The Expense Of The Legislative Authority.

I Have Thought It My Duty To Exhibit Things As They Are, Not As They Ought To Be.

We Must Make The Best Of Those Ills Which Cannot Be Avoided.

The Institution Of Delegated Power Implies That There Is A Portion Of Virtue And Honor Among Mankind Which May Be A Reasonable Foundation Of Confidence.

Necessity, Especially In Politics, Often Occasions False Hopes, False Reasonings, And A System Of Measures, Correspondingly Erroneous.

The Tendency Of A National Bank Is To Increase Public And Private Credit. The Former Gives Power To The State, For The Protection Of Its Rights And Interests: And The Latter Facilitates And Extends The Operations Of Commerce Among Individuals. Industry Is Increased, Commodities Are Multiplied, Agriculture And Manufacturers Flourish: And Herein Consists The True Wealth And Prosperity Of A State.

The Safety Of A Republic Depends Essentially On The Energy Of A Common National Sentiment; On A Uniformity Of Principles And Habits; On The Exemption Of The Citizens From Foreign Bias And Prejudice; And On That Love Of Country Which Will Almost Invariably Be Found To Be Closely Connected With Birth, Education And Family.

Bias And Prejudice

While The Constitution Continues To Be Read, And Its Principles Known, The States, Must, By Every Rational Man, Be Considered As Essential Component Parts Of The Union; And Therefore The Idea Of Sacrificing The Former To The Latter Is Totally Inadmissible.

To Watch The Progress Of Such Endeavors Is The Office Of A Free Press. To Give Us Early Alarm And Put Us On Our Guard Against Encroachments Of Power. This Then Is A Right Of Utmost Importance, One For Which, Instead Of Yielding It Up, We Ought Rather To Spill Our Blood.

As You Sometimes Swear By Him That Made You, I Conclude Your Sentiments Do Not Correspond With His, In That Which Is The Basis Of The Doctrine You Both Agree In: And This Makes It Impossible To Imagine Whence This Congruity Between You Arises. "to Grant That There Is A Supreme Intelligence Who Rules The World And Has Established Laws To Regulate The Actions Of His Creatures; And Still To Assert That Man, In A State Of Nature, May Be Considered As Perfectly Free From All Restraints Of Law And Government, Appears To A Common Understanding Altogether Irreconcilable.

The Practice Of Arbitrary Imprisonments Have Been, In All Ages, The Favorite And Most Formidable Instruments Of Tyranny.

The Variety Of More Minute Interests, Which Will Necessarily Fall Under The Superintendence Of The Local Administrations . . . Cannot Be Particularized Without Involving A Detail Too Tedious And Uninteresting To Compensate For The Instruction It Might Afford.

To All General Purposes We Have Uniformly Been One People Each Individual Citizen Everywhere Enjoying The Same National Rights, Privileges, And Protection.

Money Is, With Propriety, Considered As The Vital Principle Of The Body Politic; As That Which Sustains Its Life And Motion, And Enables It To Perform Its Most Essential Functions.

It Is Just Observation That The People Commonly Intend The Public Good.

When The Sword Is Once Drawn, The Passions Of Men Observe No Bounds Of Moderation.

The Voice Of The People Has Been Said To Be The Voice Of God; And, However Generally This Maxim Has Been Quoted And Believed, It Is Not True To Fact. The People Are Turbulent And Changing, They Seldom Judge Or Determine Right.

If The Constitution Is Adopted (and It Was) The Union Will Be In Fact And In Theory An Association Of States Or A Confederacy.

The Treaties Of The United States, To Have Any Force At All, Must Be Considered As Part Of The Law Of The Land.

Of All The Cares Or Concerns Of Government, The Direction Of War Most Peculiarly Demands Those Qualities Which Distinguish The Exercise Of Power By A Single Hand. The Direction Of War Implies The Direction Of The Common Strength; And The Power Of Directing And Employing The Common Strength, Forms A Usual And Essential Part In The Definition Of The Executive Authority.

There Are Seasons In Every Country When Noise And Impudence Pass Current For Worth; And In Popular Commotions Especially, The Clamors Of Interested And Factious Men Are Often Mistaken For Patriotism.

There Is A Contagion In Example Which Few Men Have Sufficient Force Of Mind To Resist.

There May Be In Every Government A Few Choice Spirits, Who May Act From More Worthy Motives. One Great Error Is That We Suppose Mankind More Honest Than They Are. Our Prevailing Passions Are Ambition And Interest.

It Will Be Well To Advert To The Proportion Between The Objects That Will Require A Federal Provision In Respect To Revenue; And Those Which Will Require A State Provision. We Shall Discover That The Former Are Altogether Unlimited; And That The Latter Are Circumscribed Within Very Moderate Bounds.

I Expect We Shall Be Told, That The Militia Of The Country Is Its Natural Bulwark, And Would Be At All Times Equal To The National Defence...the Facts, Which From Our Own Experience Forbid A Reliance Of This Kind, Are Too Recent To Permit Us To Be The Dupes Of Such A Suggestion.

Such A Wife As I Want... Must Be Young, Handsome I Lay Most Stress Upon A Good Shape, Sensible A Little Learning Will Do, Well-bread, Chaste, And Tender. As To Religion, A Moderate Stock Will Satisfy Me. She Must Believe In God And Hate A Saint.

There Are Respectable Individuals, Who From A Just Aversion To An Accumulation Of Public Debt, Are Unwilling To Concede To It Any Kind Of Utility, Who Can Discern No Good To Alleviate The Ill With Which They Suppose It Pregnant; Who Cannot Be Persuaded That It Ought In Any Sense To Be Viewed As An Increase Of Capital Lest It Should Be Inferred, That The More Debt The More Capital, The Greater The Burthens The Greater The Blessings Of The Community.

States, Like Individuals, Who Observe Their Engagements, Are Respected And Trusted: While The Reverse Is The Fate Of Those Who Pursue An Opposite Conduct.

A Well Adjusted Person Is One Who Makes The Same Mistake Twice Without Getting Nervous.

Would They Not Fear That Citizens Not Less Tenacious Than Conscious Of Their Rights Would Flock From The Remotest Extremes Of Their Respective States To The Places Of Election, To Overthrow Their Tyrants, And To Substitute Men Who Would Be Disposed To Avenge The Violated Majesty Of The People?

It Is An Unquestionable Truth, That The Body Of The People In Every Country Desire Sincerely Its Prosperity. But It Is Equally Unquestionable That They Do Not Possess The Discernment And Stability Necessary For Systematic Government. To Deny That They Are Frequently Led Into The Grossest Of Errors, By Misinformation And Passion, Would Be A Flattery Which Their Own Good Sense Must Despise.

Little More Can Reasonably Be Aimed At With Respect To The People At Large Than To Have Them Properly Armed.

Second Amendment

No Character, However Upright, Is A Match For Constantly Reiterated Attacks, However False.

Human Condition

In Disquisitions Of Every Kind There Are Certain Primary Truths, Or First Principles, Upon Which All Subsequent Reasoning Must Depend.

To Look For A Continuation In Harmony Between A Number Of Independent Unconnected Sovereignties, Situated In The Same Neighborhood, Would Be To Disregard The Uniform Course Of Human Events, And To Set At Defiance The Accumulated Experience Of Ages.

Perhaps Myself The First, At Some Expense Of Popularity, To Unfold The True Character Of Jefferson, It Is Too Late For Me To Become His Apologist. Nor Can I Have Any Disposition To Do It. I Admit That His Politics Are Tinctured With Fanaticism, That He Is Too Much In Earnest In His Democracy, That He Has Been A Mischievous Enemy To The Principle Measures Of Our Past Administration, That He Is Crafty & Persevering In His Objects, That He Is Not Scrupulous About The Means Of Success, Nor Very Mindful Of Truth, And That He Is A Contemptible Hypocrite.

The History Of Ancient And Modern Republics Had Taught Them That Many Of The Evils Which Those Republics Suffered Arose From The Want Of A Certain Balance, And That Mutual Control Indispensable To A Wise Administration. They Were Convinced That Popular Assemblies Are Frequently Misguided By Ignorance, By Sudden Impulses, And The Intrigues Of Ambitious Men; And That Some Firm Barrier Against These Operations Was Necessary. They, Therefore, Instituted Your Senate.

The System Is The Best That The Present Views And Circumstances Of The Country Will Permit.

[a] Power Equal To Every Possible Contingency Must Exist Somewhere In The Government . . .

When Men, Engaged In Unjustifiable Pursuits, Are Aware That Obstructions May Come From A Quarter Which Bare Apprehension Of Opposition From Doing What They Would With Eagerness Rush Into If No Such External Impediments Were To Be Feared.

A Garden, You Know, Is A Very Usual Refuge Of A Disappointed Politician. Accordingly, I Have Purchased A Few Acres About Nine Miles From Town, Have Built A House, And Am Cultivating A Garden.

By A Steady Adherence To The Union We May Hope, Erelong, To Become The Arbiter Of Europe In America, And To Be Able To Incline The Balance Of European Competitions In This Part Of The World As Our Interest May Dictate.

It Is A Singular Capriciousness Of The Human Mind, That After All The Admonitions We Have Had From Experience On This Head, There Should Still Be Found Men, Who Object To The New Constitution For Deviating From A Principle Which Has Been Found The Bane Of The Old.

The Convention Probably Foresaw What It Has Been A Principal Aim Of These Papers To Inculcate That The Danger Which Most Threatens Our Political Welfare Is, That The State Governments Will Finally Sap The Foundations Of The Union.

With Regard To The Learned Professions, Little Need Be Observed; They Truly Form No Distinct Interest In Society . . . [discussing The Landed, Merchant, And Learned Classes In Legislative Assembly]. Will Not The Man Of The Learned Profession, Who Will Feel A Neutrality To The Rivalships Between The Different Branches Of Industry, Be Likely To Prove An Impartial Arbiter Between Them, Ready To Promote Either, So Far As It Shall Appear To Him Conducive To The General Interests Of Society?

In All Very Numerous Assemblies, Of Whatever Character Composed, Passion Never Fails To Wrest The Sceptre From Reason. Had Every Athenian Citizen Been A Socrates, Every Athenian Assembly Would Still Have Been A Mob.

The Spirit Of Enterprise, Which Characterizes The Commercial Part Of America, Has Left No Occasion Of Displaying Itself Unimproved. It Is Not At All Probable That This Unbridled Spirit Would Pay Much Respect To Those Regulations Of Trade By Which Particular States Might Endeavor To Secure Exclusive Benefits To Their Own Citizens.

If The Maintenance Of Public Credit, Then, Be Truly Important, The Next Enquiry Which Suggests Itself Is, By What Means It Is To Be Effected? The Ready Answer To Which Question Is, By Good Faith, By A Punctual Performance Of Contracts. States, Like Individuals, Who Observe Their Engagements, Are Respected And Trusted: While The Reverse Is The Fate Of Those Who Pursue An Opposite Conduct.

There Is At This Present Juncture, A Certain Fermentation Of Mind, A Certain Activity Of Speculation And Enterprise Which If Properly Directed May Be Made Subservient To Useful Purposes; But Which If Left Entirely To Itself, May Be Attended With Pernicious Effects.

[w]e Must Extend The Authority Of The Union To The Persons Of The Citizens - The Only Proper Objects Of Government.

A Nation Has A Right To Manage Its Own Concerns As It Thinks Fit.

If It Be Asked What Is To Restrain The House Of Representatives From Making Legal Discriminations In Favor Of Themselves And A Particular Class Of The Society? I Answer, The Genius Of The Whole System, The Nature Of Just And Constitutional Laws, And Above All The Vigilant And Manly Spirit Which Actuates The People Of America, A Spirit Which Nourishes Freedom, And In Return Is Nourished By It. If This Spirit Shall Ever Be So Far Debased As To Tolerate A Law Not Obligatory On The Legislature As Well As On The People, The People Will Be Prepared To Tolerate Anything But Liberty.

Government Implies The Power Of Making Laws. It Is Essential To The Idea Of A Law, That It Be Attended With A Sanction; Or, In Other Words, A Penalty Or Punishment For Disobedience.

A Promise Must Never Be Broken.

Government Is Frequently And Aptly Classed Under Two Descriptions-a Government Of Force, And A Government Of Laws; The First Is The Definition Of Despotism-the Last, Of Liberty.

Nothing Can Be More Evident, Than That An Exclusive Power Of Regulating Elections For The National Government, In The Hands Of The State Legislatures, Would Leave The Existence Of The Union Entirely At Their Mercy . . . . It Is To Little Purpose To Say That A Neglect Or Omission Of This Kind [not Letting The Feds Have Elections], Would Be Unlikely To Take Place. The Constitutional Possibility Of The Thing, Without An Equivalent For The Risk, Is An Unanswerable Objection.

[i]n Framing A Government For A Nation We Ought, In Those Provisions Which Are Designed To Be Permanent, To Calculate Not On Temporary, But On Permanent Causes Of Expence.

In All General Questions Which Become The Subjects Of Discussion, There Are Always Some Truths Mixed With Falsehoods. I Confess, There Is Danger Where Men Are Capable Of Holding Two Offices. Take Mankind In General, They Are Vicious, Their Passions May Be Operated Upon. We Have Been Taught To Reprobate The Danger Of Influence In The British Government, Without Duly Reflecting How Far It Was Necessary To Support A Good Government. We Have Taken Up Many Ideas Upon Trust, And At Last, Pleased With Our Own Opinions, Establish Them As Undoubted Truths.

In Testimony Of Their Respect For The Patriot Of Incorruptible Integrity, The Soldier Of Approved Valour The Statesman Of Consummate Wisdom; Whose Talents And Virtues Will Be Admired By Grateful Posterity Long After This Marble Shall Have Mouldered Into Dust.

Allow A Government To Decline Paying Its Debts And You Overthrow All Public Morality-you Unhinge All The Principles That Preserve The Limits Of Free Constitutions. Nothing Can More Affect National Prosperity Than A Constant And Systematic Attention To Extinguish The Present Debt And To Avoid As Much As Possibly The Incurring Of Any New Debt.

Law Is Defined To Be A Rule Of Action; But How Can That Be A Rule, Which Is Little Known And Less Fixed?

Energy In The Executive Is A Leading Character In The Definition Of Good Government. It Is Essential To The Protection Of The Community Against Foreign Attacks; It Is Not Less Essential To The Steady Administration Of The Laws; To The Protection Of Property Against Those Irregular And High-handed Combinations Which Sometimes Interrupt The Ordinary Course Of Justice; To The Security Of Liberty Against The Enterprises And Assaults Of Ambition, Of Faction, And Of Anarchy.

There Are Men Who Could Neither Be Distressed Nor Won Into A Sacrifice Of Their Duty; But This Stern Virtue Is The Growth Of Few Soils: And In The Main It Will Be Found, That A Power Over A Man's Support Is A Power Over His Will.

That Americans Are Entitled To Freedom Is Incontestable On Every Rational Principle. All Men Have One Common Original: They Participate In One Common Nature, And Consequently Have One Common Right. No Reason Can Be Assigned Why One Man Should Exercise Any Power Or Preeminence Over His Fellow-creatures More Than Another; Unless They Have Voluntarily Vested Him With It.

Give Me The Steady, Uniform, Unshaken Security Of Constitutional Freedom. Give Me The Right To Be Tried By A Jury Of My Own Neighbors, And To Be Taxed By My Own Representatives Only. What Will Become Of The Law And Courts Of Justice Without This? The Shadow May Remain, But The Substance Will Be Gone. I Would Die To Preserve The Law Upon A Solid Foundation; But Take Away Liberty, And The Foundation Is Destroyed.

That This Gentleman [president John Adams] Ought Not To Be The Object Of The Federal Wish, Is, With Me, Reduced To Demonstration. His Administration Has Already Very Materially Disgraced And Sunk The Government. There Are Defects In His Character Which Must Inevitably Continue To Do This More And More. And If He Is Supported By The Federal Party, His Party Must In The Issue Fall With Him.

I Trust That The Proposed Constitution Afford A Genuine Specimen Of Representative Government And Republican Government; And That It Will Answer, In An Eminent Degree, All The Beneficial Purposes Of Society.

Effective Resistance To Usurpers Is Possible Only Provided The Citizens Understand Their Rights And Are Disposed To Defend Them.

Here, Sir, The People Govern; Here They Act By Their Immediate Representatives.

Representatives

Laws Are A Dead Letter Without Courts To Expound And Define Their True Meaning And Operation.

Civil Liberty Is Only Natural Liberty, Modified And Secured By The Sanctions Of Civil Society.

In A Free Government, The Security For Civil Rights Must Be The Same As That For Religious Rights. It Consists In The One Case In The Multiplicity Of Interests, And In The Other In The Multiplicity Of Sects.

Were It Not That It Might Require Too Long A Discussion, It Would Not Be Difficult To Demonstrate That A Large And Well-organized Republic Can Scarcely Lose Its Liberty From Any Other Cause Than That Of Anarchy, To Which A Contempt Of The Laws Is The High-road.

To Attempt To Enumerate The Complicated Variety Of Mischiefs In The Whole System Of The Social Economy, Which Proceed From A Neglect Of The Maxims That Uphold Public Credit, And Justify The Solicitude Manifested By The House On This Point, Would Be An Improper Intrusion On Their Time And Patience.

Can Any Reasonable Man Be Well Disposed Toward A Government Which Makes War And Carnage The Only Means Of Supporting Itself?

[h]owever Weak Our Country May Be, I Hope We Shall Never Sacrifice Our Liberties.

Man Is A Reasoning Rather Than A Reasonable Animal.

There Can Be No Profit In The Making Or Selling Of Things To Be Destroyed In War. Men May Think That They Have Such Profit, But In The End The Profit Will Turn Out To Be A Loss.

But Might Not His [the President's] Nomination Be Overruled? I Grant It Might, Yet This Could Only Be To Make Place For Another Nomination By Himself. The Person Ultimately Appointed Must Be Object Of His Preference, Though Perhaps Not In The First Degree. It Is Also Not Very Probable That His Nomination Would Often Be Overruled.

That Instability Is Inherent In The Nature Of Popular Governments, I Think Very Disputable … A Representative Democracy, Where The Right Of Election Is Well Secured And Regulated & The Exercise Of The Legislature, Executive, And Judiciary Authorities, Is Vested In Select Persons, Chosen Really And Not Nominally By The People, Will In My Opinion Be Most Likely To Be Happy, Regular And Durable.

Self-preservation Is The First Principle Of Our Nature.

Nothing Is More Natural To Men In Office, Than To Look With Peculiar Deference Towards That Authority To Which They Owe Their Official Existence.

If It Be Said That The Legislative Body Are Themselves The Constitutional Judges Of Their Own Powers, And That The Construction They Put Upon Them Is Conclusive Upon The Other Departments, It May Be Answered, That This Cannot Be The Natural Presumption, Where It Is Not Be Collected From Any Particular Provisions In The Constitution.

There Can Be No Time, No State Of Things, In Which Credit Is Not Essential To A Nation.

It May Be Laid Down As A General Rule, That Their Confidence In And Obedience To A Government, Will Be Commonly Proportioned To The Goodness Or Badness Of Its Administration . . . . Various Reasons Have Been Suggested In The Course Of These Papers, To Induce A Probability That The General Government Will Be Better Administered Than The Particular Governments.

If, Then, The Courts Of Justice Are To Be Considered As The Bulwarks Of A Limited Constitution Against Legislative Encroachments, This Consideration Will Afford A Strong Argument For The Permanent Tenure Of Judicial Offices, Since Nothing Will Contribute So Much As This To That Independent Spirit In The Judges Which Must Be Essential To The Faithful Performance Of So Arduous A Duty.

The Love For Our Native Land Strengthens Our Individual And National Character.

The President Is To Be Commander-in-chief Of The Army And Navy Of The United States. In This Respect His Authority Would Be Nominally The Same With That Of The King Of Great Britain, But In Substance Much Inferior To It. It Would Amount To Nothing More Than The Supreme Command And Direction Of The Land And Naval Forces, As First General And Admiral ... While That Of The British King Extends To The Declaring Of War And To The Raising And Regulating Of Fleets And Armies - All Which, By The Constitution Under Consideration, Would Appertain To The Legislature.

Has It Not. . . Invariably Been Found That Momentary Passions, And Immediate Interests, Have A More Active And Imperious Control Over Human Conduct Than General Or Remote Considerations Of Policy, Utility And Justice?

The Constitution Of Human Nature" Teaches Us Not To Expect "that The Persons, Entrusted With The Administration Of The Affairs Of The Particular Members Of A Confederacy, Will At All Times Be Ready, With Perfect Good Humor, And An Unbiased Regard To The Public Weal, To Execute The Resolutions Of Decrees Of The General Authority." "this Tendency Is Not Difficult To Be Accounted For," Publius Argues, "it Has Its Origin In The Love Of Power.

It Is In Vain To Hope To Guard Against Events Too Mighty For Human Foresight Or Precaution, And It Would Be Idle To Object To A Government Because It Could Not Perform Impossibilities.

A Sacred Respect For The Constitutional Law Is The Vital Principle, The Sustaining Energy Of A Free Government.

A Fondness For Power Is Implanted In Most Men, And It Is Natural To Abuse It When Acquired.

And As The Vicissitudes Of Nations Beget A Perpetual Tendency To The Accumulation Of Debt, There Ought To Be In Every Government A Perpetual, Anxious, And Unceasing Effort To Reduce That, Which At Any Times Exists, As Fast As Shall Be Practicable Consistently With Integrity And Good Faith.

Measures Which Serve To Abridge The Free Competition Of Foreign Articles, Have A Tendency To Occasion An Enhancement Of Prices.

[t]he Present Constitution Is The Standard To Which We Are To Cling. Under Its Banners, Bona Fide Must We Combat Our Political Foes - Rejecting All Changes But Through The Channel Itself Provides For Amendments.

A Government Ought To Contain In Itself Every Power Requisite To The Full Accomplishment Of The Objects Committed To Its Care, And To The Complete Execution Of The Trusts For Which It Is Responsible, Free From Every Other Control But A Regard To The Public Good And To The Sense Of The People.

It Was Remarked Yesterday That A Numerous Representation Was Necessary To Obtain The Confidence Of The People. This Is Not Generally True. The Confidence Of The People Will Easily Be Gained By A Good Administration. This Is The True Touchstone.

In So Strong A Light, Nevertheless, Do They Appear To The Secretary, That, On Their Due Observance, At The Present Critical Juncture, Materially Depend, In His Judgment, The Individual And Aggregate Prosperity Of The Citizens Of The United States; Their Relief From The Embarrassments They Now Experience; Their Character As A People; The Cause Of Good Government.

Were Not The Disadvantages Of Slavery Too Obvious To Stand In Need Of It, I Might Enumerate And Describe The Tedious Train Of Calamities Inseparable From It. I Might Show That It Is Fatal To Religion And Morality; That It Tends To Debase The Mind, And Corrupt Its Noblest Springs Of Action. I Might Show That It Relaxes The Sinews Of Industry, Clips The Wings Of Commerce, And Introduces Misery And Indigence In Every Shape.

The Art Of Reading Is To Skip Judiciously.

The Multitude . . . Have Not A Sufficient Stock Of Reason And Knowledge To Guide Them. . . . It Is Not Safe To Trust To The Virtue Of Any People.

In The Usual Progress Of Things, The Necessities Of A Nation In Every Stage Of Its Existence Will Be Found At Least Equal To Its Resources.

It Is A Singular Advantage Of Taxes On Articles Of Consumption That They Contain In Their Own Nature A Security Against Excess. They Prescribe Their Own Limit, Which Cannot Be Exceeded Without Defeating The End Purposed - That Is, An Extension Of The Revenue.

If We Are In Earnest About Giving The Union Energy And Duration We Must Abandon The Vain Project Of Legislating Upon The States In Their Collective Capacities.

The State Governments Possess Inherent Advantages, Which Will Ever Give Them An Influence And Ascendancy Over The National Government, And Will For Ever Preclude The Possibility Of Federal Encroachments. That Their Liberties, Indeed, Can Be Subverted By The Federal Head, Is Repugnant To Every Rule Of Political Calculation.

You Should Not Have Taken Advantage Of My Sensibility To Steal Into My Affections Without My Consent.

What Plan For The Regulation Of The Militia May Be Pursued By The National Government Is Impossible To Be Foreseen...the Project Of Disciplining All The Militia Of The United States Is As Futile As It Would Be Injurious If It Were Capable Of Being Carried Into Execution... Little More Can Reasonably Be Aimed At With The Respect To The People At Large Than To Have Them Properly Armed And Equipped ; And In Order To See That This Be Not Neglected, It Will Be Necessary To Assemble Them Once Or Twice In The Course Of A Year.

No Person That Has Enjoyed The Sweets Of Liberty Can Be Insensible Of Its Infinite Value, Or Can Reflect On Its Reverse Without Horror And Detestation

Remember Civil And Religious Liberty Always Go Together: If The Foundation Of The One Be Sapped, The Other Will Fall Of Course.

The Natural Cure For An Ill-administration, In A Popular Or Representative Constitution, Is A Change Of Men.

The Praise Of A Civilized World Is Justly Due To Christianity;—war, By The Influence Of The Humane Principles Of That Religion, Has Been Stripped Of Half Its Horrors. The French Renounce Christianity, And They Relapse Into Barbarism;—war Resumes The Same Hideous And Savage Form Which It Wore In The Ages Of Gothic And Roman Violence.

There Can Be No Limitation Of That Authority Which Is To Provide For The Defense And Protection Of The Community In Any Matter Essential To The Formation, Direction, Or Support Of The National Forces.

A Powerful, Victorious Ally Is Yet Another Name For Master.

This Power Ought To Be Coextensive With All The Possible Combinations Of Such Circumstances; And Ought To Be Under The Direction Of The Same Councils Which Are Appointed To Preside Over The Common Defense.

Experience Is The Oracle Of Truth; And Where Its Responses Are Unequivocal, They Ought To Be Conclusive And Sacred.

To Cherish And Stimulate The Activity Of The Human Mind, By Multiplying The Objects Of Enterprise, Is Not Among The Least Considerable Of The Expedients, By Which The Wealth Of A Nation May Be Promoted.

The Militia Is A Voluntary Force Not Associated Or Under The Control Of The States Except When Called Out; [ When Called Into Actual Service] A Permanent Or Long Standing Force Would Be Entirely Different In Make-up And Call.

There Is A Certain Enthusiasm In Liberty, That Makes Human Nature Rise Above Itself, In Acts Of Bravery And Heroism.

A Habit Of Labor In The People Is As Essential To The Health And Rigor Of Their Minds And Bodies As It Is Conducive To The Welfare Of The State.

The Laws Of Certain States . . . Give An Ownership In The Service Of Negroes As Personal Property . . . . But Being Men, By The Laws Of God And Nature, They Were Capable Of Acquiring Liberty - And When The Captor In War . . . Thought Fit To Give Them Liberty, The Gift Was Not Only Valid, But Irrevocable.

In Politics, As In Religion, It Is Equally Absurd To Aim At Making Proselytes By Fire And Sword. Heresies In Either Can Rarely Be Cured By Persecution.

Separation Of Church And State

The Desire Of Reward Is One Of The Strongest Incentives Of Human Conduct; ... The Best Security For The Fidelity Of Mankind Is To Make Their Interest Coincide With Their Duty.

Tyranny Has Perhaps Oftener Grown Out Of The Assumptions Of Power, Called For, On Pressing Exigencies, By A Defective Constitution, Than Out Of The Full Exercise Of The Largest Constitutional Authorities.

Passive Commerce . . . Should Thus . . . [compel Us] To Content Ourselves With The First Price Of Our Commodities, And To See The Profits Of Our Trade Snatched From Us, To Enrich Our Enemies And Persecutors. That Unequalled Spirit Of Enterprise . . . An Inexhaustible Mine Of National Wealth, Would Be Stifled And Lost; And Poverty And Disgrace Would Overspread A Country, Which, With Wisdom, Might Make Herself The Admiration And Envy Of The World.

The Representatives Of The People, In A Popular Assembly, Seem Sometimes To Fancy That They Are The People Themselves, And Betray Strong Symptoms Of Impatience And Disgust At The Least Sign Of Opposition From Any Other Quarter; As If The Exercise Of Its Rights, By Either The Executive Or Judiciary, Were A Breach Of Their Privilege And An Outrage To Their Dignity.

Civil Liberty Is Only Natural Liberty, Modified And Secured By The Sanctions Of Civil Society. It Is Not A Thing, In Its Own Nature, Precarious And Dependent On Human Will And Caprice; But It Is Conformable To The Constitution Of Man, As Well As Necessary To The Well-being Of Society.

It Will Follow That That Government Ought To Be Clothed With All Powers Requisite To Complete Execution Of Its Trust.

What Is The Most Sacred Duty And The Greatest Source Of Our Security In A Republic? An Inviolable Respect For The Constitution And Laws.

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