Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 1Jefferson, Thomas
History
Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 1
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
‘That, in order to enforce the arbitrary measures before complained of,
his Majesty has, from time to time, sent among us large bodies of armed
forces, not made up of the people here, nor raised by the authority of
our laws. Did his Majesty possess such a right as this, it might swallow
up all our other rights whenever he should think proper. But his Majesty
has no right to land a single armed man on our shores; and those whom he
sends here are liable to our laws for the suppression and punishment of
riots, routs, and unlawful assemblies, or are hostile bodies invading
us in defiance of law. When, in the course of the late war, it became
expedient that a body of Hanoverian troops should be brought over
for the defence of Great Britain, his Majesty’s grandfather, our late
sovereign, did not pretend to introduce them under any authority he
possessed. Such a measure would have given just alarm to his subjects of
Great Britain, whose liberties would not be safe if armed men of another
country, and of another spirit, might be brought into the realm at any
time, without the consent, of their legislature. He, therefore, applied
to Parliament, who passed an act for that purpose, limiting the number
to be brought in, and the time they were to continue. In like manner is
his Majesty restrained in every part of the empire. He possesses indeed
the executive power of the laws in every state; but they are the laws of
the particular state, which he is to administer within that state, and
not those of any one within the limits of another. Every state must
judge for itself, the number of armed men which they may safely trust
among them, of whom they are to consist, and under what restrictions
they are to be laid. To render these proceedings still more criminal
against our laws, instead of subjecting the military to the civil power,
his Majesty has expressly made the civil subordinate to the military.
But can his Majesty thus put down all law under his feet? Can he erect
a power superior to that which erected himself? He has done it indeed by
force; but let him remember that force cannot give right.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account