February 16, 2004

John Adams, 1793, "unbridled majorities"

JOHN ADAMS, in a 1793 letter, responding to the revolution in France:

Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.
Posted by sheila
Comments

I guess we've pretty much pressed to test on that one.

Posted by: CW at February 16, 2004 5:55 PM

And that was why they gave us the electoral college, the indirect election of U.S. Senators, and prohibited income taxes, and regarded the states as the supreme political entity with the federal government acting as our agent.... I know the argument that we live in a much more complicated world but I wonder how much of that complication is caused by government and it's tendency to give us flavor of the day legislation.

Posted by: Steve Wilson at February 19, 2004 9:34 PM