James Iredell

“ It was the glory of the late Convention, that by discarding such, they formed a general government upon principles that did as much honor to their hearts as to their understandings. God grant, that in all our deliberations, we may consider America as one body, and not divert our attention from so able a prospect to small considerations of partial jealousy and distrust. It is in vain to expect upon any system to secure an exact equilibrium of power for all the States. Some will occasionally have an advantage from the superior abilities of its members ”

“ It may, indeed, appear strange to some of us, that in any form, there should exist a power to grant, with respect to suits depending or adjudged, new rights of trial, new privileges of proceeding, not previously recognized and regulated by positive institutions; but such is the established usage of Connecticut, and it is obviously consistent with the general superintending authority of her Legislation. Nor is it altogether without some sanction for a Legislature to act as a court of justice. ”

“ And this, I apprehend, must be the necessary consequence, since surely equal authority is required to repeal as to enact. That such a power in the Judge may be abused is very certain ; that it will be, is not very probable. In the first place, in a democratical government like ours, it is the interest of every man ambitious of public distinction to make himself pleasing to the people. This is so much the case, that there is great danger of men sacrificing their honor to their popularity, if their principles and firmness of mind are not of a texture to keep them steady in an honorable course. ”

“ There is no danger of the trial by jury being rejected, when so justly a favorite of the whole people. The representatives of the people surely can have no interest in making themselves odious, for the mere pleasure of being hated, and when a member of the House of Representatives is only sure of being so for two years, but must continue a citizen all his life, his interest as a citizen, if he is a man of common sense, to say nothing of his being a man of common honesty, must ever be uppermost in his mind. ”

“ They are given by a plain man, unambitious of power, but sincerely and warmly interested in the prosperity of his country, feeling every respect for the constitutional authority of the legislature, which, in his opinion, is great enough to satisfy an ambitious, as well as to support the efforts of a public-spirited mind, but a determined enemy on all occasions to arbitrary power, in every shape whatsoever; and reverencing, beyond expression, that constitution by which he holds all that is dear to him in life. ”

“ In order, therefore, to guard against so great an evil, it has been the policy of all the American states, which have, individually, framed their state constitutions since the revolution, and of the people of the United States, when they framed the Federal Constitution, to define with precision the objects of the legislative power, and to restrain its exercise within marked and settled boundaries. ”

“ The great argument is, that though the Assembly have not a right to violate the constitution, yet if they in fact do so, the only remedy is, either by a humble petition that the law may be repealed, or a universal resistance of the people, But that in the mean time, their act, whatever it is, is to be obeyed as a law; for the judicial power is not to presume to question the power of an act of Assembly. ”

“ I conceive the remedy by a new election to be of very little consequence, because this would only secure the views of a majority; whereas every citizen in my opinion should have a surer pledge for his constitutional rights than the wisdom and activity of any occasional majority of his fellow-citizens, who, if their own rights are in fact unmolested, may care very little for his.- I believe many think as you do upon this subject, though I have not heard much said about it, and I only speak on the eral question, independent of an application to any case what ever. ”

“ Would it not be monstrous that the President should not have it in his power to pardon this man? or that it should depend upon mere solicitation and favor, and perhaps, though the President should state the fact as it really was, some zealous partisan, with his jealousy constantly fixed upon the President, might insinuate that in fact the President and he were secret traitors together, and thus obtain a rejection of the President's application? It is a consideration also of some moment, that there is scarcely any accusation more apt to excite popular prejudice than the charge of treason. ”

“ If, then, a government, composed of Legislative, Executive and Judicial departments, were established, by a Constitution, which imposed no limits on the legislative power, the consequence would inevitably be, that whatever the legislative power chose to enact, would be lawfully enacted, and the judicial power could never interpose to pronounce it void. It is true, that some speculative jurists have held, that a legislative act against natural justice must, in itself, be void; but I cannot think that under such a government, any court of Justice would possess a power to declare it so. ”

“ There is perhaps no country in the world where justice is in general more impartially administered than in England, yet let any man read some of the trials for treason in that country even since the revolution; he will see sometimes a jury, influencing the judges, as well as the jury, that is extremely disgraceful. There may happen a case in our country where a man in reality innocent, but with strong plausible circumstances against him, would be so obnoxious to popular resentment, that he might be convicted upon very slight and insufficient proof. ”

“ Let any man then ask himself, Suppose a law is passed by which I am ruined! Have I interest enough to overturn the government of my country? If I have, we still may be a ruined people, and myself ruined among the rest. ”

“ The majority having the rule in their own hands, may take care of themselves ; but in what condition are the minority, if the power of the other is without limit? These considerations, I suppose, or similar ones, occasioned such express provisions for the personal liberty of each citizen, which the citizens, when they formed the Constitution, chose to reserve as an unalienated right, and not to leave at the mercy of any Assembly whatever. ”

“ Duties upon exports, though they may answer in some particulars a convenience to the country which imposes them, are certainly not things to be contended for, as if the very being of a State was interested in preserving them. Where there is a kind of monopoly they may sometimes be ventured upon, but even there perhaps more is lost by imposing such duties, than is compensated for by any advantage. Where there is not a species of monopoly, no policy can be more absurd. The American States are so circumstanced that some of the States necessarily export part of the produce of neighboring ones. ”

“ I have not lived so short a time in the State, nor with so little interest in its concerns, as to forget the extreme anxiety with which all of us were agitated in forming the constitution, a constitution which we considered as the fundamental basis of our government, unalterable, but by the same high power which established it, and therefore to be deliberated on with the greatest caution, because if it contained any evil principle, the government formed under it must be annihilated before the evil could be corrected. ”

“ It is not sufficient to urge, that the power may be abused, for, such is the nature of all power,--such is the tendency of every human institution: and, it might as fairly be said, that the power of taxation, which is only circumscribed by the discretion of the Body, in which it is vested, ought not to be granted, because the Legislature, disregarding its true objects, might, for visionary and useless projects, impose a tax to the amount of nineteen shillings in the pound. ”

“ The experience of the evils which the American war fully disclosed, attending an absolute power in a legislature body, suggested the propriety of a real, original contract between the people and their future Government, such, perhaps, as there has been no instance of in the world but in America. ”