I heard a warm Debate between two Professors, about the most commodious
and effectual Ways and Means of raising money without grieving the Subject.
The first affirmed, the justest Method would be to lay a certain Tax upon
Vices and Folly; and the Sum fixed upon every Man. to be rated after the
fairest Manner by a Jury of his Neighbours. The second was of an Opinion
directly contrary; to tax those Qualities of Body and Mind for which Men
chiefly value themselves; the Rate to be more or less according m the Degrees
of excelling; the Decision whereof should be left entirely to their own
Breast. The highest Tax was upon Men, who are the greatest Favourites of
the other Sex; and the Assessments according to the Number and Natures
of the Favours they have received; for which they are allowed to be their
own Vouchers. Wit, Valor, and Politeness were like- wise proposed to be
largely wed, and collected in the same Manner, by every Person giving his
own Word for the Quantum of what he possessed. But, as to Honour, Justice,
Wisdom and Learning, they should not be wed at all; because, they are Qualifications
of so singular a Kind, that no Man will either allow them in his Neighbour,
or value them in himself. The Women were proposed to be wed according to
their Beauty and Skill in Dressing; wherein they had the same Privilege
with the Men, to be determined by their own Judgment. But Constancy, Chastity
, good Sense, and good Nature were not rated, because they would not bear
the Charge of Collecting. *From Gulliver's
Travels. Part III, Chapter VI.
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, on English society (ironically):
Here was neither Physician to destroy my Body, nor Lawyer to ruin my
Fortune: No Informer to watch my Words and Actions, or forge Accusations
against me for Hire: Here were no Gibers, Censurers, Backbiters, Pick-
pockets, Highwaymen, House-breakers, Attorneys, Bawds, Buffoons, Gamesters,
Politicians, Wits, Spleneticks, tedious Talkers, Controvertists, Ravishers,
Murderers, Robbers, Virtuosos; no Leaders or Followers of Party and Faction;
no Encouragers to Vice, by Seducement or Examples: No Dungeon, Axes, Gibbets,
Whipping-posts, or Pillories; No cheating Shopkeepers or Mechanicks: No
Pride, Vanity or Affectation: No Fops, Bullies, Drunkards, strolling Whores,
or Poxes: No ranting, lewd, expensive Wives: No stupid, proud Pedants:
No importunate, over- bearing, quarrelsome, noisy, roaring, empty, conceited,
swearing Companions: No Scoundrels raised from the Dust upon the Merit
of their Vices; or Nobility thrown into it on account of their Virtues:
No Lords, Fiddlers, Judges or Dancing-masters. *From Gulliver's
Travels. Part.IV, Chapter X.
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, on Walpole and the Whig politicians:
As to Learning, Government, Arts, Manufactures, and the like; my Master confessed he could find little or no Resemblance between the Yahoos of that Country and those in ours. For, he I only meant to observe what Parity there was in our Natures. He had heard indeed some curious Houyhnhnms observe, that most Herds there was a Sort of ruling Yahoo, (as among us there is generally some leading or principal Stag in & Park) who was I always more deformed in Body, and mischievous in Disposition than any of the rest. That, this Leader had usually a Favorite as like himself as he could get, whose Employment was to lick his Master's Feet and Posteriors, and drive the Female Yahoos to his Kennel; for which he was now and then rewarded with a Piece of Ass's Flesh. This Favourite is hated by the whole Herd; and therefore to protect himself, keeps always near the Person of his Leader. He usually continues in Office till a worse can be found; but the very Moment he is discarded, his Successor, at the Head of all the Yahoos in that District, Young and old Male and Female, come in a Body, and discharge their Excrements upon him from Head to Foot. But how far this might be J applicable to our Courts and Favourites, and Ministers of state, my Master said I could best determine. *From Gulliver's Travels. Part IV, Chapter VII
(See Gulliver's Travels also on: government and corrupt officials and members of parliament (Part Chap. VIII); on political parties and politicians and the degenerate English public (Part III, Chap. VI); on lawyers (Part IV, Chap. V); on comparison of politics past and recent (Part III, Chap. VIII); on inventions and projects (Part III, Chap. V).
John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato's Letters, #18.
"Pleasure succeeded in the room of temperance, idleness took the place
of the love of business, and private regards extinguished that love of liberty,
that zeal and warmth, which their ancestors had shewn for the interest of the
publick; luxury and pride became fashonable; all ranks and orders of men tired
to outvie one another in expense and pomp; and when, by so doing, they had spent
their private patrimonies, they endeavoured to make reprisals upon the public;
and having before sold everything else, at last they sold their country."
Franklin in 1753:
"I pray God long to preserve to Great Britain the English
laws, manners, liberties, and religion notwithstanding the complaints so
frequently in your public papers of the prevailing corruption and degeneracy
of your people. I hope the constitution is not so near a dissolution as
some seem to apprehend. I do not think you are generally become such slaves
to your vices as to draw down that justice Milton speaks of in Paradise
Lost. "
John Dickinson in 1754:
"It is astonishing to think what imprudence and villainy are practice on this occasion. If a man cannot be brought to vote as he is desired, he is made dead drunk ...till all is over and he can do no harm. The oath of their not being bribed is so little regarded that few people can refrain from laughing while they take it. I think the character of Rome will equally suit this nation, 'Easy to be bought if there was but a purchaser.' Several months later:
"Bribery is so common that it is thought there is not
a borough in England where it is not practiced. ..We hear every day in
Westminster Hall. ..in formations for bribery, but it is ridiculous and
absurd to pretend to curb the effects of. luxury and corruption in one
instance, or in one spot, without a general reformation of manners. Yet
Heaven knows how it can be effected. "
Charles Carroll of Maryland:
"What must be the end of this shameless, long-continued
want of honor, public spirit, and patriotism? Will not your profligacy,
corruption, sink you into anarchy and destruction? All states labouring
under the same vices have met with the fate that will be your lot. The
fate is impending, it cannot be far off. ...Soon after Sir Robert Walpole
was made premier, he reduced corruption to a regular system which since
his time to the present period has been improved and founded on so broad
and solid a basis as to threaten the constitution with immediate ruin and
already to have left the people little more than the appearance of liberty."
[Why tax America and otherwise impose new demands?:]
" America was the only remaining spot to which their oppression
and extortion had not fully reached, and they considered her as a fallow
filed from which a large income might be drawn."
Benjamin Franklin on the Grafton government (1768-1770) [This
is a very important quote for what it reveals about England.]
"As to the state of things here, we have for some
time had a Ministry not well united among themselves. The Duke of
Grafton, to avoid, as some suppose, their opposition to his intended device
from his Duchess, has admitted so many of the Bedford Party, that they
[the Bedford "gang"] are not almost too strong for him and his friends.
(1) The ministers have been to appearance a good deal embarrassed
and puzzled how to act with America. The Bedford People have been
all along for violent measures. . . The majority really wish
the Duty Acts [Townshend Acts] had never been made; they say they are evidently
inconsistent with all sound commercial and political principles, equally
prejudicial to this country as to America; but they think the nation honour
concerned in supporting them, considering the manner in which the execution
[enforcement] of them has been opposed. They cannot bear the denial
of the right of Parliament to make them, though they acknowledge they ought
not to have been made. They fear being despised by all the nations
round if they repeal them; and say it is a matter of great importance to
this nation that the would should see it as master of its colonies, otherwise
its enemies on a conceit of its weakness, might be encouraged to insult
it. . . . They give out that they actually had an intention of repealing,
till the ill behaviour of America made it improper and at present impracticable;
an that if matters should remain quiet a year or perhaps two, though they
would not be understood to promise the repeal, they say it's highly probable
it will take place. I have represented to them, that thought the
right has been denyed, the payment of the duties has nevertheless been
every where submitted top that the riot occasioned by the seizure of a
vessel at Boston [what one is that?], had no relation to the act about
paper, glass, etc. That the honour of Parliament had of the nation
is better maintained by rectifying what it has done improperly and not
by being obstinate in the wrong; that in a country so frequent in mischievous
mobs and murderous riots as this is, it's surprising to find such resentment
of a trifling riot in Boston; and strange that it should be thought just
to punish all the colonies, by continuing an oppressive act affecting the
whole, for the offense only of one of them; that government is not established
merely by power; it must be maintained by a general opinion of its wisdom
and justice, to make it firm and durable."
The Revolution in Pennsylvania in 1776
Oath created by the conference of June 18 in Pennsylvania for the creation of a new state government. Oath had to be taken in order to vote for the state constitutional convention.
"I ______ do declare that I do not hold myself bound to bear allegiance to George the third , king of Great Britain, and that I will not by any means oppose the establishment of a free government in this province by the convention now to be chosen, nor the measures adopted by the congress against the tyranny to be established in these colonies by the court of Great Britain."
Oath created by the conference of June 18 for delegates to the state constitutional convention:
"I _____ profess faith in God the Father and in Jesus
Christ his eternal Son, the true God and in the Holy Spirit, one God blessed
for evermore; and do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the old and new
testament to be given by divine inspiration."
Oath in the 1776 state constitution required of all voters:
"I ______ do swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and
ture to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and that I will not directly or
indirectly do any thing prejudicial to the constitution or government thereof,
as established by the constitution."
Republicanism and Community
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: "Even if the good is the same for the individual and the city, the good of the city clearly is the greater and more perfect thing to attain and to safeguard. The attainment of the good for one person alone is, to be sure, a source of satisfaction; yet to secure it for a nation and for cities is nobler and more divine.
John Adams in 1776. "There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be not republican government, nor any real liberty."
Sam Adams: "A citizen owes everything to the Commonwealth."
James Otis, Jr.: "The only principle of public conduct that is worthy of a gentleman or a man is to sacrifice his estate, ease, health, and even life to the sacred call of his country."
Benjamin Rush: "Every man in a republic is public property. His time and talents–his youth–his manhood his old age–nay more, life, all belong to his country."
A Pennsylvanian: "No man is a true republican that will not give up his single voice to that of the public."
Nathan Hale: "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country."
Benjamin Rush on public education (1786): "Let our pupil be taught that he does not belong to himself, but that he is public property. Let him be taught to love his family, but let him be taught at the same time that he must forsake and even forget them when the welfare of his country requires it." With proper schools, it would be "possible to convert men into republican machines."
At the Virginia ratifying convention: "If there any virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea."
Criticism of Republicanism
Alexander Hamilton
"We may preach till we are tired of the theme, the necessity of disinterestedness in republics, without making a single proselyte. The virtuous disclaimer will neither persuade him self nor any other person to be content with a double mess of porridge, instead of a reasonable stipend for his services. We might as soon reconcile ourselves to the Spartan community of goods and wives, to their iron coin, there long beards, or their black broth."
John Witherspoon (Presbyterian minister, president of Princeton)
"Others may, if they please, treat the corruption of our nature as a chimera: for my part I see it everywhere, and I feel it every day.
Carter Braxton (of Virginia):
Public virtue, "a disinterested attachment to the public good, exclusive and independent of all private and selfish interest, never characterized the mass of the people in any state. To be a true republican a man must divest himself of all interested motives, and engage in no pursuits which do not ultimately redound to the benefit of society."
Restraints on self-gratification and consumption were appropriate for "sterile countries" like Sparta, but "they can never meet with a favorable reception from people who inhabit a country to which Providence has been more bountiful." Americans will always claim the right to enjoy the fruits of their honest labor, unrestrained by any ideal principles of governments, and they will always accumulate property for themselves and their children without regarding the whimsical impropriety of being richer than their neighbors. The truth is, that men will not be poor from choice or compulsion, only from necessity. Republicanism was and a mere creature of a warm imagination."
Noah Webster
Virtue, patriotism, or love of country, never was and never will be, till men’s natures are changed, a fixed, permanent principle and support of government."
The Economy/Markets in Pennsylvania, 1779
"The social compact, by which
men are united and incorporated, requires that every right or power claimed or
exercised by any man or set of men should be in subordination to the common
good, and that whatever is incompatible therewith, must be brought into
subjection thereto. . . . every species of forestalling, monopolizing, and
engrossing is to be sanctioned, because merchants' idea of a free trade is, for
every man to do what he pleases--a right which is repugnant to the very
principles on which society and civil government are
founded." Philadelphia
Committee of Inspection, 1779
"Take off every restraint and limitation from our commerce. Let trade be as free as air. Let every man make the most of his goods and in his own way and then he will be most satisfied. . . It is a sad omen to find among the first effects of independence, greater restraints and abridgments of natural liberty, than ever we felt under the government we have lately renounced and shaken off." Pelatiah Webster (Philadelphia merchant), summer 1779
Madison, Federalist Paper, Number Ten
The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other, than to co-operate for their common good. So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government.