Sep 4, 2008

Governeur Morris on aristocracy and government

The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest. They always did. They always will. ... They will have the same effect here as elsewhere, if we do not, by such a government, keep them within their proper spheres. We should remember that the people never act from reason alone. The rich will take advantage of their passions, and make these the instruments for oppressing them. The result of the contest will be a violent aristocracy, or a more violent despotism.

~ Governeur Morris, New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention and drafter of the Constitution, reflecting on the new federal government

(Quoted by G. Edward Griffen, The Creature from Jekyll Island, page 335.)

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