Zunaed ebooks

What, then, shall we do? Shall we take the old Confederation as a basis
of a new system? Can this be the object of the gentlemen? Certainly not.
Will any man who entertains a wish for the safety of his country trust
the sword and purse with a single assembly organized on principles so
defective, so rotten? Though we might give to such a government certain
powers with safety, yet to give them the full and unlimited powers of
taxation and the national forces would be to establish a despotism, the
definition of which is, a government in which all power is concentrated
in a single body. To take the old Confederation and fashion it upon
these principles would be establishing a power which would destroy the
liberties of the people. These considerations show clearly that a
government totally different must be instituted. They had weight in the
convention who formed the new system. It was seen that the necessary
powers were too great to be trusted to a single body; they therefore
formed two branches and divided the powers that each might be a check
upon the other.


Pages:
276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300