“ Citizens of Massachusetts! those men who now preside over you are, and ever have been, the patrons of freedom and independence! men whose exertions have been unceasing to promote and secure to you the blessings of a free government; whose grand stimulus to act is the advancement of your welfare and happiness!—men whose conduct is not stinted by the narrow concerns of self, and who, “when their country calls, can yield their treasure up, and know no wish beyond the publick good.” ”

“ But I apply to men who have no personal expectations from a change, and to men in full health. The answer of all such men will be, that never was a better time for deliberation. Let us then, while we have it in our power, secure the happiness and freedom of the present and future ages. To accept of the report of the convention, under the idea that we can alter it when we please, will be sporting with fire-brands, arrows and death. It is a system which must have an army to support it, and there can be no redress but by a civil war. ”

“ If I demean myself as a good citizen, I am accountable, not to man, but to God, for the religious opinions which I embrace, and the manner in which I worship the supreme being. If such had been the universal sentiments of mankind, and they had acted accordingly, persecution, the bane of truth and nurse of error, with her bloody axe and flaming hand, would never have turned so great a part of the world into a field of blood. ”

“ Let Numa reflect, that we now have, at the head of government, those men who were the first to step forth in the great cause of liberty—who risked their all to acquire the blessings of freedom; though that freedom, through the influence of such characters as himself, has been often abused.
The people know their rulers, and have confidence in them: and can it be supposed, that they would have confidence in those, whose dastardly souls, in time of danger, shrunk back from the scene of action, and kept secure in their strong holds? ”

“ It has been proved, by indisputable evidence, that power is not the grand principle of union among the parts of a very extensive empire; and that when this principle is pushed beyond the degree necessary for rendering justice between man and man, it debases the character of individuals, and renders them less secure in their persons and property. Civil liberty consists in the consciousness of that security, and is best guarded by political liberty, which is the share that every citizen has in the government. ”

“ If there be any one state more interested than the others in the adoption of this system, it is New Hampshire. Your local situation, which can never be altered, is a solemn argument in its favor. Tho' separated from the government of Britain at no less price than the blood of your bravest sons, you border on her dominions. She is your enemy, and wishes nothing more than your submission to her laws, and to the will of her proud servants. ”

“ When the deputies of a free people are met to deliberate on a constitution for their country; they must find themselves in a solemn situation. Few persons realize the greatness of this business, and none can certainly determine how it will terminate. A love of liberty in which we have all been educated, and which your country expects on you to preserve sacred, will doubtless make you careful not to lay such foundations as will terminate in despotism. Oppression and a loss of liberty arise from very different causes, and which at first blush appear totally different from another. ”

“ Therefore, a general presumption that rulers will govern well is not a sufficient security. You are then under a sacred obligation to provide for the safety of your posterity, and would you now basely desert their interests, when by a small share of prudence you may transmit to them a beautiful political patrimony, which will prevent the necessity of their travelling through seas of blood to obtain that which your wisdom might have secured? It is a duty you owe likewise to your own reputation, for you have a great name to lose; you are characterized as cautious, prudent and jealous in politics ”

“ The inhabitants of one state will not have confidence in judges appointed by the legislature of another state, in which they have no voice. Judges who owe their appointment and support to one state, will be unduly influenced, and not reverence the laws of the union. It will at any time be in the power of the smallest state, by interdicting their own judiciary, to defeat the measures, defraud the revenue, and annul the most sacred laws of the whole empire. A legislative power, without a judicial and executive under their own control, is in the nature of things a nullity. ”

“ There are always men in society of some talents, but more ambition, in quest of that which it would be impossible for them to obtain in any other way than by working on the passions and prejudices of the less discerning classes of citizens and yeomanry. It is the plan of men of this stamp to frighten the people with ideal bugbears, in order to mould them to their own purposes. The unceasing cry of these designing croakers is, My friends, your liberty is invaded! Have you thrown off the yoke of one tyrant to invest yourselves with that of another? ”

“ It is impossible to conceive what greater security can be given, by any form of words, than we here find.
The federal representatives are to be chosen by the votes of the people. Every freeman is an elector. The same qualification which enables you to vote for state representatives, gives you a federal voice. It is a right you cannot lose, unless you first annihilate the state legislature, and declare yourself incapable of electing, which is a degree of infatuation improbable as a second deluge to drown the world. ”

“ Citizens of Massachusetts, look well about you; you are beset by harpies, knaves and blockheads, who are employing every artifice and falsehood to effect your ruin. The plan of federal government is fraught with every thing favourable to your happiness, your freedom and your future welfare: if you reject it, posterity will execrate your memories, and ceaselessly insult your ashes: if you adopt it, they will revere your departed shades, and offer up libations of gratitude on your tombs. ”

“ Are they not men who, when the poisonous breath of tyranny would have blasted the flower of Independence in its bud, and veiled every ray of freedom in the clouds of lawless despotism, nobly stepped forth in defence of their injured country's rights, and through the [pg 021] influence of whose exertions, favoured by the protection of an over-ruling Power, the thick fog of despotism vanished like the early dew before the powerful rays of the resplendent luminary of the universe? Are they not honest, upright and just men, who fear God and eschew evil? ”

“ I most sacredly believe their object is the total abolition and destruction of all state governments, and the erection on their ruins of one great and extensive empire, calculated to aggrandize and elevate its rulers and chief officers far above the common herd of mankind, to enrich them with wealth, and to encircle them with honours and glory, and which according to my judgment on the maturest reflection, must inevitably be attended with the most humiliating and abject slavery of their fellow citizens, by the sweat of whose brows, and by the toil of whose bodies, it can only be effected. ”

“ The people are now ripe for a government which will do justice to their interests, and if the honourable convention deny them, they will despair of help. They have shewn a noble spirit in appointing their first citizens for this business—when convened you will constitute the most august assembly that were ever collected in the State, and your duty is the greatest that can be expected from men, the salvation of your country. ”

“ Make an absolute monarch—give him the supreme authority, and guard as much as you will by bills of rights, your liberty of the press, and trial by jury;—he will find means either to take them from you, or to render them useless.
The only real security that you can have for all your important rights must be in the nature of your government. If you suffer any man to govern you who is not strongly interested in supporting your privileges, you will certainly lose them. ”

“ But why, I pray you, my fellow citizens, should we not insist upon the necessary amendments being made now, while we have the liberty of acting for ourselves, before the Constitution becomes binding upon us by our assent, as every principle of reason, common sense and safety would dictate? Because, say they, the sentiments of men are so different, and the interests of the different states are so jarring and dissonant, that there is no probability they would agree if alterations and amendments were attempted. ”

“ When this glorious work is accomplished, what may America not hope to arrive at? I will venture to prophesy that the day on which the Union under the new government shall be ratified by the American States, that that day will begin an era which will be recorded and observed by future ages as a day which the Americans had marked by their wisdom in circumscribing the power and ascertaining the decline of the ancient nations in Christendom. ”

“ Is it not where trade flourishes, and when the merchant can freely export the produce of the country to such parts of the world as will bring the richest return? When the merchant doth not purchase, your produce is low, finds a dull market—in vexation you call the trader a jocky, and curse the men whom you ought to pity. A desire of gain is common to mankind, and the general motive to business and industry. You cannot expect many purchases when trade is restricted, and your merchants are shut out from nine-tenths of the ports in the world. ”

“ The proposed system is now in your hands, and with it the fate of your country. We have a common interest for we are embarked in the same vessel. At present she is in a sea of trouble, without sails, oars, or pilot; ready to be dashed to pieces by every flaw of wind. You may secure a port, unless you think it better to remain at sea. If there is any man among you that wishes for troubled times and fluctuating measures, that he may live by speculations, and thrive by the calamities of the state, this government is not for him. ”

“ It seems almost impossible that any one should be so stupidly blinded to every dictate of reason and common sense, as to start such things as have been mentioned by Vox Populi, to deter men from using their influence to effect the adoption of the new plan of government.
Can that shallow-pated scribbler suppose that an oath taken by rulers to stand by a form of government, adopted by the people, can be of any force or consideration if the people choose to change that form of government for another more agreeable to their wishes? ”

“ The whole union has seen and fears, and while history gives true information, no other people will ever repeat the studied process of fraud. You may again shew the distorted features of injustice, but never in more lively colors, or by more able hands than has been done already. As virtue and good government has derived all possible advantage from your experiment, and every other state thanks you for putting their own rogues and fools out of countenance, begin to have mercy on yourselves. ”

“ If you would be free and happy a power must be created to protect your persons and properties; otherwise you are slaves to all mankind. Your British neighbors have long known these truths, and will not fail by their emissaries to seminate such jealousies as favor their own designs.
To prophesy evil is ungrateful business; but forgive me when I predict, that the adoption of this Constitution is the only probable means of saving the greatest part of your State from becoming an appendage of Canada or Nova Scotia. ”

“ By a careful management of imposts and excises, the national expenses may be discharged without any other species of tax; but if a poll tax or land tax shall ever become necessary, the weight must press equally on every part of the union. For in all cases such taxes must be according to the number of inhabitants. Is it not a pleasing consideration that North Carolina, under all her natural disadvantages, must have the same facility of paying her share of the public debt, as the most favoured, or the most fortunate state? ”

“ Weak and defenseless as you were, unused to military exertions, and unsupplied with warlike stores, you braved the strength of a nation the most powerful and best provided—you chose to risk your lives and property rather than to risque the possibility that the power claimed by the British government should be exercised to your injury—a possibility which the minions of power at that time, with as much confidence as those of the present day, declared to be absolutely visionary. ”

“ In our own state, if a civil officer is impeached he will not be tried by a jury, but by that branch of our legislature styled the senate. Tired, no doubt, with a repetition of arguments, upon parts of the constitution which did not appear quite plain till investigated and rightly construed, the anti-federalists have taken upon them to assert things which the proposed system does not afford them the least grounds for. Presumptuous, indeed, must they be in the highest degree, if they suppose any will be so blind as to listen to the most palpable falsehoods, uttered by them. ”

“ Instead of supporting or assisting, we are uniformly taking the advantage of one another. Such an assemblage of people are not a nation. Like a dark cloud, without cohesion or firmness, we are ready to be torn asunder, and scattered abroad by every breeze of external violence, or internal commotion.
Is there a man in this state, who believes it possible for us to continue under such a government? ”

“ This article, my countrymen, is sufficient to convince you of the excellency of that constitution which the federal convention have formed; a constitution founded on the broad basis of liberty, and, should the citizens of America happily concur in adopting it, its pillars may be as fixed as the foundations of created nature.
Say, ye mighty cavillers, ye inconsistent opposers of the new plan of government, of what avail, to the thinking part of the community, do you suppose will be all your clamours about a bill of rights? ”

“ If the United States were one single government, provided the constitution of this extensive government was as good as the constitution of this State now is, would this part of it be really in greater danger of oppression or tyranny, than at present? It is true that many people who are great men because they go to Hartford to make laws for us once or twice in a year, would then be no greater than their neighbours, as much fewer representatives would be chosen. ”

“ I despise the trick of such dirty policy. I know there are Citizens, who, to gain their own private ends, enflame the minds of the well-meaning, tho' less intelligent parts of the community, by sating their vanity with that cordial and unfailing specific, that all power is seated in the people. For my part, I am not much attached to the majesty of the multitude, and therefore waive all pretensions (founded on such conduct) , to their countenance. I consider them in general as very ill qualified to judge for themselves what government will best suit their peculiar situations ”

“ All the men of genius and wealth will resort to the seat of government, that will be center of revenue, and of business, which the extremes will be drained to supply.
This is not mere vision, it is justified by the whole course of things. We shall, therefore, if we neglect the present opportunity to secure ourselves, only increase the number of proofs already too many, that mankind are incapable of enjoying their liberty. I have been the more particular in stating the amendments to be made, because many gentlemen think it would be preferable to receive the new system with corrections. ”

“ No man when he enters into society does it from a view to promote the good of others, but he does it for his own good. All men having the same view are bound equally to promote the welfare of the whole. To recur then to such a principle as that local interests must be disregarded, is requiring of one man to do more than another, and is subverting the foundation of a free government. The Philadelphians would be shocked with a proposition to place the seat of general government and the unlimited right to regulate trade in the Massachusetts. ”

“ A legislative assembly has an inherent right to alter the common law, and to abolish any of its principles, which are not particularly guarded in the constitution. Any system therefore which appoints a legislature, without any reservation of the rights of individuals, surrenders all power in every branch of legislation to the government. The universal practice of every government proves the justness of this remark; for in every doubtful case it is an established rule to decide in favour of authority. ”

“ Attach yourselves to measures, not to men.
This form of government is handed to you by the recommendations of a man who merits the confidence of the public; but you ought to recollect that the wisest and best of men may err, and their errors, if adopted, may be fatal to the community; therefore, in principles of politics, as well as in religious faith, every man ought to think for himself.
Hereafter, when it will be necessary, I shall make such observations on this new constitution as will tend to promote your welfare and be justified by reason and truth. ”

“ It is actually under the pressure of such an absurd government, that the Spanish provinces have groaned for near three centuries; and such will be our misfortune and degradation, if we ever submit to have all the business of the empire done by one legislature. The contrary principle of local legislation by the representatives of the people, who alone are to be governed by the laws, has raised us to our present greatness; and an attempt on the part of Great Britain to invade this right, brought on the revolution, which gave us a separate rank among the nations. ”

“ You and all men were created free and authorised to establish civil government for the preservation of our rights against civil oppression, and the security of that freedom which God had given you, against the rapacious hand of tyranny and lawless power. ”