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Men Are Rather Reasoning Than Reasonable Animals For The Most Part Governed By The Impulse Of Passion. This Is A Truth Well Understood By Our Adversaries Who Have Practised Upon It With No Small Benefit To Their Cause. For At The Very Moment They Are Eulogizing The Reason Of Men & Professing To Appeal Only To That Faculty, They Are Courting The Strongest & Most Active Passion Of The Human Heart - Vanity!

-Alexander Hamilton

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Men Are Rather Reasoning

Alexander Hamilton

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Men Are Rather Reasoning Than Reasonable Animals For The Most Part Governed By The Impulse Of Passion. This Is A Truth Well Understood By Our Adversaries Who Have Practised Upon It With No Small Benefit To Their Cause. For At The Very Moment They Are Eulogizing The Reason Of Men & Professing To Appeal Only To That Faculty, They Are Courting The Strongest & Most Active Passion Of The Human Heart - Vanity!

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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.

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.

Hitherto My Observations Have Only Aimed At A Vindication Of The Provision In Question, On The Ground Of Theoretic Propriety . . . . But There Remains To Be Mentioned A Positive Advantage . . . I Allude To The Circumstance Of Uniformity In The Time Of Elections For The House Of Representatives. It Is More Than Possible, That This Uniformity May Be Found By Experience To Be Of Great Importance To The Public Welfare; Both As A Security Against The Perpetuation Of The Same Spirit In The Body; And As A Cure For The Diseases Of Faction.

It Has Been Frequently Remarked, That It Seems To Have Been Reserved To The People Of This Country To Decide, By Their Conduct And Example, The Important Question, Whether Societies Of Men Are Really Capable Or Not, Of Establishing Good Government From Reflection And Choice, Or Whether They Are Forever Destined To Depend, For Their Political Constitutions, On Accident And Force.

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

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.

The Only Constitutional Exception To The Power Of Making Treaties Is, That It Shall Not Change The Constitution.… On Natural Principles, A Treaty, Which Should Manifestly Betray Or Sacrifice Primary Interests Of The State, Would Be Null.

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.

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

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

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.

[w]ar Is A Question, Under Our Constitution, Not Of Executive, But Of Legislative Cognizance. It Belongs To Congress To Say Whether The Nation Shall Of Choice Dismiss The Olive Branch And Unfurl The Banners Of War.

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.

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

It May Be Said That The Power Of Preventing Bad Laws Includes That Of Preventing Good Ones; And May Be Used To The One Purpose As Well As To The Other. But This Objection Will Have Little Weight With Those Who Can Properly Estimate The Mischiefs Of That Inconstancy And Mutability In The Laws, Which Form The Greatest Blemish In The Character And Genius Of Our Governments.

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

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

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.

The Regular Distribution Of Power Into Distinct Departments; The Introduction Of Legislative Balances And Checks; The Institution Of Courts Composed Of Judges Holding Their Offices During Good Behavior; The Representation Of The People In The Legislature By Deputies Of Their Own Election . . . They Are Means, And Powerful Means, By Which The Excellences Of Republican Government May Be Retained And Its Imperfections Lessened Or Avoided.

Distribution Of Power

These Are Not Vague Inferences . . . But They Are Solid Conclusions Drawn From The Natural And Necessary Progress Of Human Affairs.

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

If Duties Are Too High, They Lessen The Consumption; The Collection Is Eluded; And The Product To The Treasury Is Not So Great As When They Are Confined Within Proper And Moderate Bounds. This Forms A Complete Barrier Against Any Material Oppression Of The Citizens By Taxes Of This Class, And Is Itself A Natural Limitation Of The Power Of Imposing Them.

This Balance Between The National And State Governments Ought To Be Dwelt On With Peculiar Attention, As It Is Of The Utmost Importance. It Forms A Double Security To The People. If One Encroaches On Their Rights They Will Find A Powerful Protection In The Other. Indeed, They Will Both Be Prevented From Overpassing Their Constitutional Limits By A Certain Rivalship, Which Will Ever Subsist Between Them.

When A Government Betrays The People By Amassing Too Much Power And Becoming Tyrannical, The People Have No Choice But To Exercise Their Original Right Of Self-defense — To Fight The Government.

It May Safely Be Received As An Axiom In Our Political System, That The State Governments Will In All Possible Contingencies Afford Complete Security Against Invasions Of The Public Liberty By The National Authority.

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.

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

People Sometimes Attribute My Success To My Genius; All The Genius I Know Anything About Is Hard Work.

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!

In The Main It Will Be Found That A Power Over A Man's Support [salary] Is A Power Over His Will.

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.

That Experience Is The Parent Of Wisdom Is An Adage The Truth Of Which Is Recognized By The Wisest As Well As The Simplest Of Mankind.

Here Sir, The People Govern.

Representatives

A Law, By The Very Meaning Of The Term, Includes Supremacy. It Is A Rule Which Those To Whom It Is Prescribed Are Bound To Observe. This Results From Every Political Association.

A Feeble Executive Implies A Feeble Execution Of The Government. A Feeble Execution Is But Another Phrase For A Bad Execution; And A Government Ill Executed, Whatever May Be Its Theory, Must Be, In Practice, A Bad Government.

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.

Let Experience, The Least Fallible Guide Of Human Opinion, Be Appealed To For An Answer To These Inquiries.

But The Greatest Obstacle Of All To The Successful Prosecution Of A New Branch Of Industry In A Country, In Which It Was Before Unknown, Consists . . . In The Bounties, Premiums, And Other Aids Which Are Granted, In A Variety Of Cases, By The Nations, In Which The Establishments To Be Imitated Are Previously Introduced.

Hence, In A State Of Nature, No Man Had Any Moral Power To Deprive Another Of His Life, Limbs, Property, Or Liberty; Nor The Least Authority To Command Or Exact Obedience From Him, Except That Which Arose From The Ties Of Consanguinity.

But As The Plan Of The Convention Aims Only At A Partial Union Or Consolidation, The State Governments Would Clearly Retain All The Rights Of Sovereignty Which They Before Had, And Which Were Not, By That Act, Exclusively Delegated To The United States.

We Are Now Forming A Republican Government. Real Liberty Is Never Found In Despotism Or The Extremes Of Democracy, But In Moderate Governments.

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.

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

It Is A Just Observation That The People Commonly Intend The Public Good. This Often Applies To Their Very Errors. But Their Good Sense Would Despise The Adulator Who Should Pretend They Always Reason Right About The Means Of Promoting It.

This Process Of Election Affords A Moral Certainty That The Office Of President Will Seldom Fall To The Lot Of Any Many Who Is Not In An Eminent Degree Endowed With The Requisite Qualifications.

Some Reasonable Term Ought To Be Allowed To Enable Aliens To Get Rid Of Foreign And Acquire American Attachments; To Learn The Principles And Imbibe The Spirit Of Our Government; And To Admit Of A Probability At Least, Of Their Feeling A Real Interest In Our Affairs.

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.

The Propriety Of A Law, In A Constitutional Light, Must Always Be Determined By The Nature Of The Powers Upon Which It Is Founded.

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.

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

How Can You Trust People Who Are Poor And Own No Property? ... Inequality Of Property Will Exist As Long As Liberty Exists.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

It's Not Tyranny We Desire; It's A Just, Limited, Federal Government.

A Government, The Constitution Of Which Renders It Unfit To Be Trusted With All The Powers Which A Free People Ought To Delegate To Any Government, Would Be An Unsafe And Improper Depositary Of The National Interests.

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

The Same Rule That Teaches The Propriety Of A Partition Between The Various Branches Of Power, Teaches Us Likewise That This Partition Ought To Be So Contrived As To Render The One Independent Of The Other.

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.

I Go Further, And Affirm That Bills Of Rights, In The Sense And To The Extent In Which They Are Contended For, Are Not Only Unnecessary In The Proposed Constitution, But Would Even Be Dangerous. They Would Contain Various Exceptions To Powers Not Granted; And On This Very Account, Would Afford A Colorable Pretext To Claim More Than Were Granted. For Why Declare That Things Shall Not Be Done Which There Is No Power To Do?

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

No Man In His Senses Can Hesitate In Choosing To Be Free, Rather Than A Slave.

American Revolution

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

The True Principle Of Government Is This - Make The System Compleat In Its Structure; Give A Perfect Proportion And Balance To Its Parts; And The Powers You Give It Will Never Affect Your Security.

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

The Reasonableness Of The Agency Of The National Courts In Cases In Which The State Tribunals Cannot Be Supposed To Be Impartial, Speaks For Itself. No Man Ought Certainly To Be A Judge In His Own Cause, Or In Any Cause In Respect To Which He Has The Least Interest Or Bias.

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

Man Is A Reasoning Rather Than A Reasonable Animal.

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.

I Have A Tender Reliance On The Mercy Of The Almighty, Through The Merits Of The Lord Jesus Christ. I Am A Sinner. I Look To Him For Mercy; Pray For Me.

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

Upon This Law, Depend The Natural Rights Of Mankind, The Supreme Being Gave Existence To Man, Together With The Means Of Preserving And Beatifying That Existence. He Endowed Him With Rational Faculties, By The Help Of Which, To Discern And Pursue Such Things, As Were Consistent With His Duty And Interest, And Invested Him With An Inviolable Right To Personal Liberty, And Personal Safety.

Has It Been Found That Bodies Of Men Act With More Rectitude Or Greater Disinterestedness Than Individuals? The Contrary Of This Has Been Inferred By All Accurate Observers Of The Conduct Of Mankind; And The Inference Is Founded Upon Obvious Reasons. Regard To Reputation Has A Less Active Influence, When The Infamy Of A Bad Action Is To Be Divided Among A Number Than When It Is To Fall Singly Upon One.

The Truth Is That The General Genius Of A Government Is All That Can Be Substantially Relied Upon For Permanent Effects. Particular Provisions, Though Not Altogether Useless, Have Far Less Virtue And Efficacy Than Are Commonly Ascribed To Them; And The Want Of Them Will Never Be With Men Of Sound Discernment A Decisive Objection To Any Plan Which Exhibits The Leading Characters Of A Good Government.

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.

...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.

Constitutions Of Civil Government Are Not To Be Framed Upon A Calculation Of Existing Exigencies, But Upon A Combination Of These With The Probable Exigencies Of Ages, According To The Natural And Tried Course Of Human Affairs. Nothing, Therefore, Can Be More Fallacious Than To Infer The Extent Of Any Power, Proper To Be Lodged In The National Government, From An Estimate Of Its Immediate Necessities.

The Idea Of Restraining The Legislative Authority, In The Means Of Providing For The National Defense, Is One Of Those Refinements Which Owe Their Origin To A Zeal For Liberty More Ardent Than Enlightened.

If We Set Out With... A Scrupulous Regard To The Constitution, The Government Will Acquire A Spirit And A Tone Productive Of Permanent Blessings To The Community. If On The Contrary,... The Constitution Is Slighted, Or Explained Away, Upon Every Frivolous Pretext, The Future Of Government Will Be Feeble, Distracted And Arbitrary. The Rights Of The Subjects Will Be The Sport Of Every Party Vicissitude. There Will Be No Settled Rule Of Conduct, But Everything Will Fluctuate With The Alternate Prevalency Of Contending Factions.

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.

There Was A Time When We Were Told . . . That A Sense Of Common Interest Would Preside Over The Conduct Of The Respective Members...this Language At The Present Day Would Appear As Wild As That Great Part Of What We Now Hear From The Same Quarter Will Be Thought, When We Shall Have Received Further Lessons From That Best Oracle Of Wisdom, Experience.

Wisdom Experience

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.

To Model Our Political System Upon Speculations Of Lasting Tranquility, Is To Calculate On The Weaker Springs Of The Human Character.

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.

It Is One Thing To Be Subordinate To The Laws, And Another [for The Executive] To Be Dependent On The Legislative Body. The First Comports With, The Last Violates, The Fundamental Principles Of Good Government; And, Whatever May Be The Forms Of The Constitution, Unites All Power In The Same Hands.

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

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

Human Condition

The Prosperity Of Commerce Is Now Perceived And Acknowledged By All Enlightened Statesmen To Be The Most Useful As Well As The Most Productive Source Of National Wealth, And Has Accordingly Become A Primary Object Of Their Political Cares.

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.

The Civil Jury Is A Valuable Safeguard To Liberty.

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.

Responsibility, In Order To Be Reasonable, Must Be Limited To Objects Within The Power Of The Responsible Party, And In Order To Be Effectual, Must Relate To Operations Of That Power, Of Which A Ready And Proper Judgment Can Be Formed By The Constituents.

Manufacturing Establishments Not Only Occasion A Positive Augmentation Of The Produce And Revenue Of The Society . . . They Contribute Essentially To Rendering Them Greater Than They Could Possibly Be, Without Such Establishments. These Circumstances Are . . . Greater Scope For The Diversity Of Talents And Dispositions Which Discriminate Men From Each Other.

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 Origin Of All Civil Government, Justly Established, Must Be A Voluntary Compact, Between The Rulers And The Ruled; And Must Be Liable To Such Limitations, As Are Necessary For The Security Of The Absolute Rights Of The Latter; For What Original Title Can Any Man Or Set Of Men Have, To Govern Others, Except Their Own Consent?

Learn To Think Continentally.

I Would Die To Preserve The Law Upon A Solid Foundation; But Take Away Liberty, And The Foundation Is Destroyed.

The Complete Independence Of The Courts Of Justice Is Peculiarly Essential In A Limited Constitution. By A Limited Constitution, I Understand One Which Contains Certain Specified Exceptions To The Legislative Authority. Limitations Of This Kind Can Be Preserved In Practice No Other Way Than Through The Medium Of Courts Of Justice, Whose Duty It Must Be To Declare All Acts Contrary To The Manifest Tenor Of The Constitution Void. Without This, All The Reservations Of Particular Rights Or Privileges Would Amount To Nothing.

There Is No Part Of The Administration Of Government That Requires Extensive Information And A Thorough Knowledge Of The Principles Of Political Economy, So Much As The Business Of Taxation. The Man Who Understands Those Principles Best Will Be Least Likely To Resort To Oppressive Expedients, Or Sacrifice Any Particular Class Of Citizens To The Procurement Of Revenue. It Might Be Demonstrated That The Most Productive System Of Finance Will Always Be The Least Burdensome.

Thorough Knowledge

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nobody Expects To Trust His Body Overmuch After The Age Of Fifty.

The Idea Of Governing At All Times By The Simple Force Of Law (which We Have Been Told Is The Only Admissible Principle Of Republican Government) Has No Place But In The Reveries Of Those Political Doctors Whose Sagacity Disdains The Admonitions Of Experimental Instruction.

The Christian Constitutional Society, Its Object Is First: The Support Of The Christian Religion. Second: The Support Of The United States.

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.

It Is A Well-known Fact That In Countries In Which The National Debt Is Properly Funded, And An Object Of Established Confidence, It Answers Most Of The Purposes Of Money. Transfers Of Stock, Or Public Debt, Are There Equivalent To Payments In Specie; Or, In Other Words, Stock, In The Principal Transactions Of Business, Passes Current As Specie. The Same Thing Would, In All Probability, Happen Here, Under The Like Circumstances.

It Has Been Observed That A Pure Democracy If It Were Practicable Would Be The Most Perfect Government. Experience Has Proved That No Position Is More False Than This. The Ancient Democracies In Which The People Themselves Deliberated Never Possessed One Good Feature Of Government. Their Very Character Was Tyranny; Their Figure Deformity.

Democracies Have

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.

And It Proves, In The Last Place, That Liberty Can Have Nothing To Fear From The Judiciary Alone, But Would Have Everything To Fear From Its Union With Either Of The Other Departments.

Executive Power

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.

Common Interest May Always Be Reckoned Upon As The Surest Bond Of Sympathy.

Its Objects Are Contracts With Foreign Nations Which Have The Force Of Law, But Derive It From The Obligations Of Good Faith.

There Is Perhaps, Nothing More Likely To Disturb The Tranquillity Of Nations, Than Their Being Bound To Mutual Contributions For Any Common Object That Does Not Yield An Equal And Coincident Benefit. For It Is An Observation As True, As It Is Trite, That There Is Nothing Men Differ So Readily About As The Payment Of Money.

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.

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.

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

The Inhabitants Of Territories, Often The Theatre Of War, Are Unavoidably Subject To Frequent Infringements On Their Rights, Which Serve To Weaken Their Sense Of Those Rights; And By Degrees, The People Are Brought To Consider The Soldiery Not Only As Their Protectors But As Their Superiors.

To Attach Full Confidence To An Institution Of This Nature, It Appears To Be An Essential Ingredient In Its Structure, That It Shall Be Under Private And Not A Public Direction-under The Guidance Of Individual Interest, Not Of Public Policy; Which, Would Be . . . Liable To Being Too Much Influenced By Public Necessity.

The Means Ought To Be Proportioned To The End; The Persons From Whose Agency The Attainment Of Any End Is Expected Ought To Possess The Means By Which It Is To Be Attained.

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.

A Nation Which Can Prefer Disgrace To Danger Is Prepared For A Master, And Deserves One.

American Revolution

The Administration Of Private Justice Between The Citizens Of The Same State, The Supervision Of Agriculture And Of Other Concerns Of A Similar Nature, All Those Things In Short Which Are Proper To Be Provided For By Local Legislation, Can Never Be Desirable Cares Of A General Jurisdiction . . . The Attempt To Exercise These Powers Would Be As Troublesome As It Would Be Nugatory; And The Possession Of Them, For That Reason, Would Contribute Nothing To The Dignity, To The Importance, Or To The Splendour Of The National Government.

The Deliberative Sense Of The Community Should Govern.

[e]very Act Of A Delegated Authority, Contrary To The Tenor Of The Commission Under Which It Is Exercised, Is Void. No Legislative Act, Therefore, Contrary To The Constitution, Can Be Valid. To Deny This, Would Be To Affirm, That The Deputy Is Greater Than His Principal; That The Servant Is Above His Master; That The Representatives Of The People Are Superior To The People Themselves; That Men Acting By Virtue Of Powers, May Do Not Only What Their Powers Do Not Authorize, But What They Forbid.

. . . [the Judicial Branch] May Truly Be Said To Have Neither Force Nor Will, But Merely Judgment; And Must Ultimately Depend Upon The Aid Of The Executive Arm Even For The Efficacy Of Its Judgments.

If The Exercise Of Power Of Internal Taxation By The Union Should Be Discovered On Experiment To Be Really Inconvenient, The Federal Government May Then Forbear The Use Of It . . .

A Republic Of This Kind, Able To Withstand An External Force, May Support Itself Without Any Internal Corruptions. The Form Of This Society Prevents All Manner Of Inconveniences.

Experience Teaches, That Men Are Often So Much Governed By What They Are Accustomed To See And Practice, That The Simplest And Most Obvious Improvements . . . Are Adopted With Hesitation, Reluctance, And Slow Gradations.

And It Is Long Since I Have Learned To Hold Popular Opinion Of No Value.

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!

One Great Error Is That We Suppose Mankind More Honest Than They Are.

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.

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

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

The Art Of Reading Is To Skip Judiciously.

In A Government Framed For Durable Liberty, Not Less Regard Must Be Paid To Giving The Magistrate A Proper Degree Of Authority, To Make And Execute The Laws With Rigour, Than To Guarding Against Encroachments Upon The Rights Of The Community. As Too Much Power Leads To Despotism, Too Little Leads To Anarchy, And Both Eventually To The Ruin Of The People.

Why Has Government Been Instituted At All? Because The Passions Of Man Will Not Conform To The Dictates Of Reason And Justice Without Constraint.

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

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.

To Judge From The History Of Mankind, We Shall Be Compelled To Conclude, That The Fiery And Destructive Passions Of War, Reign In The Human Breast, With Much More Powerful Sway, Than The Mild And Beneficent Sentiments Of Peace.

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

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.

There Is Nothing Absurd Or Impracticable In The Idea Of A League Or Alliance Between Independent Nations For Certain Defined Purposes Precisely Stated In A Treaty Regulating All The Details Of Time, Place, Circumstance, And Quantity; Leaving Nothing To Future Discretion; And Depending For Its Execution On The Good Faith Of The Parties.

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.

Every Power Vested In A Government Is In Its Nature Sovereign, And Includes By Force Of The Term A Right To Employ All The Means Requisite . . . To The Attainment Of The Ends Of Such Power.

Let Us Recollect That Peace Or War Will Not Always Be Left To Our Option; That However Moderate Or Unambitious We May Be, We Cannot Count Upon The Moderation, Or Hope To Extinguish The Ambition Of Others.

It Is Impossible To Read The History Of The Petty Republics Of Greece And Italy Without Feeling Sensations Of Horror And Disgust At The Distractions With Which They Were Continually Agitated, And At The Rapid Succession Of Revolutions By Which They Were Kept In A State Of Perpetual Vibration Between The Extremes Of Tyranny And Anarchy . . . Great Improvement . . . Were Either Not Known At All, Or Imperfectly Known To The Ancients.

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.

Constitutions Should Consist Only Of General Provisions; The Reason Is That They Must Necessarily Be Permanent, And That They Cannot Calculate For The Possible Change Of Things.

Constitution Of The United States

Opinion, Whether Well Or Ill-founded, Is The Governing Principle Of Human Affairs

Is It Not Time To Awake From The Deceitful Dream Of A Golden Age, And To Adopt As A Practical Maxim For The Direction Of Our Political Conduct, That We, As Well As The Other Inhabitants Of The Globe, Are Yet Remote From The Happy Empire Of Perfect Wisdom And Perfect Virtue?

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.

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.

The Legislatures Will Have Better Means Of Information. They Can Discover The Danger At A Distance; And Possessing All The Organs Of Civil Power, And The Confidence Of The People, They Can At Once Adopt A Regular Plan Of Opposition, In Which They Can Combine All The Resources Of The Community. They Can Readily Communicate With Each Other In The Different States, And Unite Their Common Forces For The Protection Of Their Common Liberty.

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.

When Occasions Present Themselves, In Which The Interests Of The People Are At Variance With Their Inclinations, It Is The Duty Of The Persons Whom They Have Appointed To Be The Guardians Of Those Interests, To Withstand The Temporary Delusion, In Order To Give Them Time And Opportunity For More Cool And Sedate Reflection.

[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.

The Only Distinction Between Freedom And Slavery Consists In This: In The Former State A Man Is Governed By The Laws To Which He Has Given His Consent, Either In Person Or By His Representative; In The Latter, He Is Governed By The Will Of Another. In The One Case, His Life And Property Are His Own; In The Other, They Depend Upon The Pleasure Of His Master. It Is Easy To Discern Which Of These Two States Is Preferable.

The President Of The United States Would Be Liable To Be Impeached, Tried, And Upon Conviction Of Treason, Bribery, Or Other High Crimes And Misdemeanors, Removed From Office; And Would Afterwards Be Liable To Prosecution And Punishment In The Ordinary Course Of Law. The Person Of The King Of Great Britain Is Sacred And Inviolable: There Is No Constitutional Tribunal To Which He Is Amenable, No Punishment To Which He Can Be Subjected Without Involving The Crisis Of A National Revolution.

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.

The Fabric Of American Empire Ought To Rest On The Solid Basis Of The Consent Of The People. The Streams Of National Power Ought To Flow From That Pure, Original Fountain Of All Legitimate Authority.

As To Taxes, They Are Evidently Inseparable From Government. It Is Impossible Without Them To Pay The Debts Of The Nation, To Protect It From Foreign Danger, Or To Secure Individuals From Lawless Violence And Rapine.

The True Principle Of A Republic Is That The People Should Choose Whom They Please To Govern Them. Representation Is Imperfect, In Proportion As The Current Of Popular Favor Is Checked. The Great Source Of Free Government, Popular Election, Should Be Perfectly Pure, And The Most Unbounded Liberty Allowed.

As On The One Hand, The Necessity For Borrowing In Particular Emergencies Cannot Be Doubted, So On The Other, It Is Equally Evident That To Be Able To Borrow Upon Good Terms, It Is Essential That The Credit Of A Nation Should Be Well Established.

[imeachable Conduct Is] Misconduct By Public Men, Or, In Other Words, From The Abuse Or Violation Of Some Public Trust.

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.

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.

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.

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

Representatives

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

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.

Men Are Rather Reasoning Than Reasonable Animals For The Most Part Governed By The Impulse Of Passion.

The Circumstances That Endanger The Safety Of Nations Are Infinite, And For This Reason No Constitutional Shackles Can Wisely Be Imposed On The Power To Which The Care Of It Is Committed.

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.

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

Wise Politicians Will Be Cautious About Fettering The Government With Restrictions That Cannot Be Observed, Because They Know That Every Break Of The Fundamental Laws, Though Dictated By Necessity, Impairs That Sacred Reverence Which Ought To Be Maintained In The Breast Of Rulers Towards The Constitution Of A Country.

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

The Interpretation Of The Laws Is The Proper And Peculiar Province Of The Courts. A Constitution Is, In Fact, And Must Be Regarded By The Judges, As Fundamental Law. It Therefore Belongs To Them To Ascertain Its Meaning, As Well As The Meaning Of Any Particular Act Proceeding From The Legislative Body. If There Should Happen To Be An Irreconcilable Variance Between The Two, That Which Has The Superior Obligation And Validity Ought, Of Course, To Be Preferred; Or, In Other Words, The Constitution Ought To Be Preferred To The Statute, The Intention Of The People To The Intention Of Their Agents.

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.

Men Give Me Credit For Some Genius. All The Genius I Have Lies In This; When I Have A Subject In Hand, I Study It Profoundly. Day And Night It Is Before Me. My Mind Becomes Pervaded With It. Then The Effort That I Have Made Is What People Are Pleased To Call The Fruit Of Genius. It Is The Fruit Of Labor And Thought.

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.

Industry Is Increased, Commodities Are Multiplied, Agriculture And Manufacturers Flourish: And Herein Consists The True Wealth And Prosperity Of A State.

This [a State Militia System] Appears To Me The Only Substitute That Can Be Devised For A Standing Army, And The Best Possible Security Against It, If It Should Exist.

Second Amendment

Right To Bear Arms

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

Even To Observe Neutrality You Must Have A Strong Government.

Safety From External Danger Is The Most Powerful Director Of National Conduct. Even The Ardent Love Of Liberty Will, After A Time, Give Way To Its Dictates. The Violent Destruction Of Life And Property Incident To War, The Continual Effort And Alarm Attendant On A State Of Continual Danger, Will Compel Nations The Most Attached To Liberty To Resort For Repose And Security To Institutions Which Have A Tendency To Destroy Their Civil And Political Rights. To Be More Safe, They At Length Become Willing To Run The Risk Of Being Less Free.

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

If Mankind Were To Resolve To Agree In No Institution Of Government, Until Every Part Of It Had Been Adjusted To The Most Exact Standard Of Perfection, Society Would Soon Become A General Scene Of Anarchy, And The World A Desert.

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

The Proposed Constitution, So Far From Implying An Abolition Of The State Governments, Makes Them Constituent Parts Of The National Sovereignty, By Allowing Them A Direct Representation In The Senate, And Leaves In Their Possession Certain Exclusive And Very Important Portions Of Sovereign Power. This Fully Corresponds, In Every Rational Import Of The Terms, With The Idea Of A Federal Government.

Unless Your Government Is Respectable, Foreigners Will Invade Your Rights; And To Maintain Tranquillity You Must Be Respectable; Even To Observe Neutrality You Must Have A Strong Government.

Foreign Influence Is Truly The Grecian Horse To A Republic. We Cannot Be Too Careful To Exclude Its Influence.

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

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