登陆注册
19847800000152

第152章

Tuesday, February 19, 1788.

MADISON

To the People of the State of New York:

THE THIRD charge against the House of Representatives is, that it will be taken from that class of citizens which will have least sympathy with the mass of the people, and be most likely to aim at an ambitious sacrifice of the many to the aggrandizement of the few.

Of all the objections which have been framed against the federal Constitution, this is perhaps the most extraordinary. Whilst the objection itself is levelled against a pretended oligarchy, the principle of it strikes at the very root of republican government.

The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust. The elective mode of obtaining rulers is the characteristic policy of republican government. The means relied on in this form of government for preventing their degeneracy are numerous and various. The most effectual one, is such a limitation of the term of appointments as will maintain a proper responsibility to the people.

Let me now ask what circumstance there is in the constitution of the House of Representatives that violates the principles of republican government, or favors the elevation of the few on the ruins of the many?

Let me ask whether every circumstance is not, on the contrary, strictly conformable to these principles, and scrupulously impartial to the rights and pretensions of every class and description of citizens?

Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor; not the learned, more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States. They are to be the same who exercise the right in every State of electing the corresponding branch of the legislature of the State.

Who are to be the objects of popular choice? Every citizen whose merit may recommend him to the esteem and confidence of his country. No qualification of wealth, of birth, of religious faith, or of civil profession is permitted to fetter the judgement or disappoint the inclination of the people.

If we consider the situation of the men on whom the free suffrages of their fellow-citizens may confer the representative trust, we shall find it involving every security which can be devised or desired for their fidelity to their constituents.

In the first place, as they will have been distinguished by the preference of their fellow-citizens, we are to presume that in general they will be somewhat distinguished also by those qualities which entitle them to it, and which promise a sincere and scrupulous regard to the nature of their engagements.

In the second place, they will enter into the public service under circumstances which cannot fail to produce a temporary affection at least to their constituents. There is in every breast a sensibility to marks of honor, of favor, of esteem, and of confidence, which, apart from all considerations of interest, is some pledge for grateful and benevolent returns. Ingratitude is a common topic of declamation against human nature; and it must be confessed that instances of it are but too frequent and flagrant, both in public and in private life. But the universal and extreme indignation which it inspires is itself a proof of the energy and prevalence of the contrary sentiment.

In the third place, those ties which bind the representative to his constituents are strengthened by motives of a more selfish nature. His pride and vanity attach him to a form of government which favors his pretensions and gives him a share in its honors and distinctions.

Whatever hopes or projects might be entertained by a few aspiring characters, it must generally happen that a great proportion of the men deriving their advancement from their influence with the people, would have more to hope from a preservation of the favor, than from innovations in the government subversive of the authority of the people.

All these securities, however, would be found very insufficient without the restraint of frequent elections. Hence, in the fourth place, the House of Representatives is so constituted as to support in the members an habitual recollection of their dependence on the people. Before the sentiments impressed on their minds by the mode of their elevation can be effaced by the exercise of power, they will be compelled to anticipate the moment when their power is to cease, when their exercise of it is to be reviewed, and when they must descend to the level from which they were raised; there forever to remain unless a faithful discharge of their trust shall have established their title to a renewal of it.

I will add, as a fifth circumstance in the situation of the House of Representatives, restraining them from oppressive measures, that they can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of the society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny. If it be asked, what is to restrain the House of Representatives from making legal discriminations in favor of themselves and a particular class of the society? I answer: the genius of the whole system; the nature of just and constitutional laws; and above all, the vigilant and manly spirit which actuates the people of America -- a spirit which nourishes freedom, and in return is nourished by it.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 扑街写手的异界奋斗史

    扑街写手的异界奋斗史

    张帆是一名写手,一名连签约都过不了的写手。为了追求签约而选择追随主流的他却被吸引了自己的小说中。张帆是否能发现这个世界的秘密从而找到回去的道路?
  • 似曾相识妻归来

    似曾相识妻归来

    “我怀孕了!”乐谣拿着单,惊喜至极。“恩,好。”沈墨宸的反应很平静,低沉的嗓音淡淡响起,“女孩1000万,男孩2000万。孩子落地,支票给你。从此各不相干。”乐谣的笑容戛然而止,原来从始至终他都当这是一桩生意!只是他没说双胞胎是多少钱,不是么?4年后,他们两个再次相遇。他依然如初,她却不再是从来的她。为了夺回曾经失去的芳心,他编制了一个又一个的温柔陷阱。当心再次深陷其中之时,曾经的真相却如同潘多拉盒子一样统统揭开……原来所有的一切,是让人如此不堪……你我似曾相识,无关风月只关刻骨。---沈墨宸乐谣
  • 千王之王大起底:盗亦有道

    千王之王大起底:盗亦有道

    华语图书界首部以千术为主题的侠盗悬念小说四部曲。网络超级人气传奇“老千”系列,大陆台湾两岸同步高调发行,惊艳江湖。千王之王的智囊组合,集万千骗术于一身的绝妙千局。让人喘不过气来的200多个骗局,为您还原千术世界的真实原貌。
  • 幸福乡村江山

    幸福乡村江山

    本书从基本县情、历史沿革、经济社会发展现状入手,总结江山社会主义新农村建设的主要做法,分析典型案例,凝练江山社会主义新农村建设的品牌特色和经验启示,积极探索有效推进新农村建设的新理念、新途径和新方法。
  • 时空科技专家

    时空科技专家

    神族,脑域高度发达的科技种族.煞族,生物进化极限的种族.当神族和煞族相遇,特性的不同决定煞族始终想终结神族.战斗开始的时候是一面倒的屠杀,神族没有武器类型的科技,龟缩在塔母星系云中心区域的神族只能依靠时空传送技术进行逃脱.都说最好的防守就是进攻,神族注定将有被终结的命运,时空器的制造变异又进化拥有自己意识的它却成为一个穿梭宇宙之间的工具,它将在何林手中绽放不一样的光彩,科技?金钱?权力?地位?美女?斗气?魔法?魔兽?通通都有!
  • 袁腾飞讲先秦·战国纵横

    袁腾飞讲先秦·战国纵横

    本书讲述了战国七雄,各国兵争舌战,风云际会,政客过招。奇招、绝招、阴招、险招令人眼花缭乱,大战、小仗、明争、暗夺令人目不暇接……直到秦始皇一统天下,中国又走向了一个全新的历史段。袁腾飞以其独到的“史话体”,为我们轻松解读华夏文明的起源、发展脉络和历史走向。
  • 法华经持验记

    法华经持验记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 综漫之紫色单翼天使

    综漫之紫色单翼天使

    【更文不定】在背叛中,她学会了装作毫不在意;在绝望中,她冷若冰霜,不在相信;在失望中,她懂得了伪装………这一次,她要破茧而生,不再做不愿争取的小丑,而是纵横天下的蝴蝶!就算早已遍体鳞伤,也要争取一次!【慕雨:大家如果不喜欢这篇文文,请大家不要在下面骂慕雨哦~而且慕雨会很努力的去写,慕雨还是小学生啊”】
  • 上古韦爵爷

    上古韦爵爷

    松杉女王的小儿子,一个没有种族天赋的伪继承人,他的真实来历居然是一名光荣的少先队员。家人的冷漠,伙伴们的嘲讽,愤怒的他毅然脱离家族,用智慧和铁拳,靠着一帮兄弟,从一名奴隶到佣兵团首领,再到封地领主,万人敬仰的韦爵爷。
  • 星座女王之降服我的星座殿下

    星座女王之降服我的星座殿下

    一次奇妙的相遇,他们遇到了彼此,当十二之星再次出现,他们的命运也将改变,假的星座守护神她到底是什么来历,一次次的危险,他们许下了诺言,最后十二之星是否会再次出现,命运的轮回将何去何从。