The Strongest Passions And Most Dangerous Weaknesses

Any Reading Not Of A Vicious Species Must Be A Good Substitute For The Amusements Too Apt To Fill Up The Leisure Of The Labouring Classes.

Wherever There Is Interest And Power To Do Wrong, Wrong Will Generally Be Done.

A Dependence On The People Is, No Doubt, The Primary Control On The Government; But Experience Has Taught Mankind The Necessity Of Auxiliary Precautions.

Place Three Individuals In A Situation Wherein The Interest Of Each Depends On The Voice Of The Others, And Give To Two Of Them An Interest Opposed To The Rights Of The Third. Will The Latter Be Secure? The Prudence Of Every Man Would Shun The Danger. The Rules & Forms Of Justice Suppose & Guard Against It. Will Two Thousand In A Like Situation Be Less Likely To Encroach On The Rights Of One Thousand?

The Proposed Constitution, Therefore, Even When Tested By The Rules Laid Down By Its Antagonists, Is, In Strictness, Neither A National Nor A Federal Constitution; But A Composition Of Both. In Its Foundation It Is Federal, Not National; In The Sources From Which The Ordinary Powers Of The Government Are Drawn, It Is Partly Federal, And Partly National; In The Operation Of These Powers, It Is National, Not Federal; In The Extent Of Them Again, It Is Federal, Not National; And Finally, In The Authoritative Mode Of Introducing Amendments, It Is Neither Wholly Federal, Nor Wholly National.