The Founding Fathers on the risks of a democracy
1. “Bear in mind Democracy by no means lasts lengthy. It quickly wastes exhausts and murders itself. There by no means was a Democracy But, that didn’t commit suicide. It’s in useless to Say that Democracy is much less useless, much less proud, much less egocentric, much less bold, or much less avaricious than Aristocracy or Monarchy. It’s not true in Reality and nowhere seems in historical past.” John Adams, in a letter to John Taylor, 17 December 1814
2. “The evils we expertise circulate from the surplus of democracy. The folks don’t want [that is, do not lack] advantage however are the dupes of pretended patriots.” – Elbridge Gerry, 1787, spoken throughout the Constitutional Conference in Philadelphia
3. “It has been noticed by an honorable gentleman, {that a} pure democracy if it have been practicable can be probably the most good authorities. Expertise has proved that no place is extra false than this. The traditional democracies through which the folks themselves deliberated by no means possessed one good characteristic of presidency. Their very character was tyranny; their determine deformity.” – Alexander Hamilton, from a speech on the New York ratifying conference, 21 June 1788 Francis Childs’ model
4. “ . . . democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and competition; have ever been discovered incompatible with private safety or the rights of property; and have generally been as brief of their lives as they’ve been violent of their deaths.” – James Madison, Federalist #10
5. Alexander Hamilton agreed, saying: “We at the moment are forming a republican authorities. [Liberty] is discovered not in “the extremes of democracy however in reasonable governments. … If we incline an excessive amount of to democracy, we will quickly shoot right into a monarchy.”
6. John Marshall, the extremely revered fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court docket, noticed, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the distinction is like that between order and chaos.”
7. Thomas Paine mentioned, “A Democracy is the vilest type of Authorities there may be.”
