We are the most corrupt nation on earth because of “our peculiar form of Government”; because of the exactions and limitations of a Constitution which was designed to protect and conserve the interests of property rather than of citizenship. Those who are astounded or offended at this statement need only read the record of the convention which drafted the Constitution in order to satisfy themselves as to its moderation. I do not mean to insinuate that the fifty-five delegates who met in Philadelphia in 1787 had any idea of establishing a system which would foster corruption, but the records absolutely prove that they deliberately planned to suppress the rule of the majority in order that popular clamor might not menace property interests. The train of abuses from which we now suffer flow logically from the checks they then provided; checks which place selfish and corrupt wealth beyond the reach of public redress. Those foolish persons who have been taught in school and in the public prints that the founders of our Constitution were sincerely desirous of establishing a system of government in which the will of the people should find free expression, will be shocked and undeceived when they read its debates and proceedings as recorded by James Madison, one of the delegates from Virginia. When one comes to learn of these fifty-five delegates that not more than ten are on record as voicing the slightest degree of confidence in the wisdom of the people or their fitness to rule, he is likely to take a new view of the Constitution framed by them, and he is able to account for the innumerable ills which we are compelled to suffer. I will quote a few expressions of opinion from delegates who wielded the greater influence in the construction of the Constitution: _Roger Sherman_—“The people should have as little to do as may be about the Government.” _Elbridge Gerry_—“The evils we experience flow from an excess of democracy, the worst of all possible evils.” _John Dickinson_—“A limited monarchy is one of the best governments in the world.” _Rufus King_—“It is immaterial to the people by what government they are possessed, provided they be well employed.” _Alexander Hamilton_—“The British monarchy is the best government in the world,” and he doubted if anything short of it would do in America. “Their House of Lords is a most noble institution.” _Alexander Hamilton_—He acknowledged himself not to think favorably of republican government. “Inequality in property constitutes the great and fundamental distinction in society.” _Gunning Bedford_—“Are we to act with greater purity than the rest of mankind? Our votes are actuated by interest and ambition.” _Gouverneur Morris_—“The Senate must have great personal property; it must have the aristocratic spirit; it must love to lord it through pride. To make it independent it should be for life. Property is the main object of society.”