Essays on the Constitution of the United States: Published during its Discussion by the People, 1787-1788
History
Essays on the Constitution of the United States: Published during its Discussion by the People, 1787-1788
Constitutional history -- United States -- Sources; United States. Constitution
in the proposed structure of government, and that while a public force is
created, the liberties of the people have every possible guard.
Several of the honourable Gentlemen’s objections are expressed in such
vague and indecisive terms, that they rather deserve the name of
insinuations, and we know not against what particular parts of the system
they are pointed. Others are explicit, and if real deserve serious
attention. His first objection is “that there is no adequate provision for
representation of the people.” This must have respect either to the number
of representatives, or to the manner in which they are chosen. The proper
number to constitute a safe representation is a matter of judgment, in
which honest and wise men often disagree. Were it possible for all the
people to convene and give their personal assent, some would think this
the best mode of making laws, but in the present instance it is
impracticable. In towns and smaller districts where all the people may
meet conveniently and without expense this is doubtless preferable. The
state representation is composed of one or two from every town and
district, which composes an assembly not so large as to be unwieldy in
acting, nor so expensive as to burden the people. But if so numerous a
representation were made from every part of the United States, with our
present population, the new Congress would consist of three thousand men;
with the population of Great Britain, to which we may arrive in half a
century, of ten thousand; and with the population of France, which we
shall probably equal in a century and a half, of thirty thousand.
Such a body of men might be an army to defend the country in case of
foreign invasion, but not a legislature, and the expense to support them
would equal the whole national revenue. By the proposed constitution the
new Congress will consist of nearly one hundred men; when our population
is equal to Great Britain of three hundred men, and when equal to France
of nine hundred. Plenty of Lawgivers! why any gentlemen should wish for
more is not conceivable.
Considering the immense territory of America, the objection with many will
be on the other side; that when the whole is populated it will constitute
a legislature unmanageable by its numbers. Convention foreseeing this
danger, have so worded the article, that if the people should at any
future time judge necessary, they may diminish the representation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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