Constitutional history -- United States; United States -- Politics and government; United States. Constitution. 18th Amendment
“In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the
people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then
the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate
departments. Hence arises a double security to the rights of the
people.... It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard
the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one
part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Different
interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a
majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority
will be insecure. There are but two methods of providing against this
evil: The one by creating a will in the community independent of the
majority--that is, of the society itself; the other, by comprehending
in the society so many separate descriptions of citizens as will render
an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable,
if not impracticable. The first method prevails in all governments
possessing an hereditary or self-appointed authority. This, at best,
is but a precarious security; because a power independent of the
society may as well espouse the unjust views of the major, as the
rightful interests of the minor party, and may possibly be turned
against both parties. The _second_ method _will_ be exemplified in
the federal republic of the United States. Whilst all authority in it
will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society itself
will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens,
that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little
danger from interested combinations of the majority.... Justice is
the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has
been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty
be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the
stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may
as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker
individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger....
In the extended republic of the United States, and among the great
variety of interests, parties, and sects which it embraces, a coalition
of a majority of the whole society could seldom take place on any
other principles than those of justice and the general good.... It
is no less certain than it is important, understanding the contrary
opinions which have been entertained, that the larger the society,
provided it lie within a practical sphere, the more duly capable it
will be of self-government. And, happily for the _republican cause_,
the practicable sphere may be carried to a very great extent, by a
judicious modification and mixture of the _federal principle_.” (_Fed._
No. 51.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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