Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention

Name: The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their Constituents
Author: Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention

The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

Summary

“The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their Constituents”, published in 1787, is a work by Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention. It explores elements such as the United States, Congress and liberty.

Quotes from The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention)

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The power of direct taxation applies to every individual, as congress, under this government, is expressly vested with the authority of laying a capitation or poll tax upon every person to any amount. This is a tax that, however oppressive in its nature, and unequal in its operation, is certain as to its produce and simple in its collection; it cannot be evaded like the objects of imposts or excise, and will be paid, because all that a man hath will he give for his head. This tax is so congenial to the nature of despotism, that it has ever been a favorite under such governments. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ A standing army in the hands of a government placed so independent of the people, may be made a fatal instrument to overturn the public liberties; it may be employed to enforce the collection of the most oppressive taxes, and to carry into execution the most arbitrary measures. An ambitious man who may have the army at his devotion, may step up into the throne, and seize upon absolute power.
The absolute unqualified command that Congress have over the militia may be made instrumental to the destruction of all liberty, both public and private ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ There is not even a declaration of RIGHTS to which the people may appeal for the vindication of their wrongs in the court of justice. They must therefore, implicitly obey the most arbitrary laws, as the worst of them will be pursuant to the principles and form of the constitution, and that strongest of all checks upon the conduct of administration, responsibility to the people, will not exist in this government. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ Not to enlarge upon the loss of the invaluable right of trial by an unbiased jury, so dear to every friend of liberty, the monstrous expence and inconveniences of the mode of proceedings to be adopted, are such as will prove intolerable to the people of this country. The lengthy proceedings of the civil law courts in the chancery of England, and in the courts of Scotland and France, are such that few men of moderate fortune can endure the expence of; the poor man must therefore submit to the wealthy. Length of purse will too often prevail against right and justice. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ That the new government will not be a confederacy of states, as it ought, but one consolidated government, founded upon the destruction of the several governments of the states, we shall now shew.
The powers of Congress under the new constitution, are complete and unlimited over the purse and the sword, and are perfectly independent of, and supreme over, the state governments, whose intervention in these great points is entirely destroyed. By virtue of their power of taxation, Congress may command the whole, or any part of the property of the people. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ Such various, extensive, and important powers combined in one body of men, are inconsistent with all freedom; the celebrated Montesquieu tells us, that "when the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty, because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ In fact, it is as important to regulate in a republic in what manner, by whom, and concerning what suffrages are to be given, as it is in a monarchy to know who is the prince, and after what manner he ought to govern." The time, mode and place of the election of representatives, senators and president general of the United States, ought not to be under the control of Congress, but fundamentally ascertained and established. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ But we will suppose, although in all probability it may never be realized in fact, that our deputies in Congress have the welfare of their constituents at heart, and will exert themselves in their behalf, what security could even this afford; what relief could they extend to their oppressed constituents? To attain this, the majority of the deputies of the twelve other states in Congress must be alike well disposed; must alike forego the sweets of power, and relinquish the pursuits of ambition, which from the nature of things is not to be expected. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ At this momentous crisis, the framers of our state constitution made the most express and decided declaration and stipulations in favour of the rights of conscience: but now when no necessity exists, those dearest rights of men are left insecure. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ By virtue of the foregoing section, when the spirit of the people shall be gradually broken; when the general government shall be firmly established, and when a numerous standing army shall render opposition vain, the Congress may compleat the system of despotism, in renouncing all dependence on the people, by continuing themselves, and children in the government. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ This large state is to have but ten members in that Congress which is to have the liberty, property and dearest concerns of every individual in this vast country at absolute command and even these ten persons, who are to be our only guardians; who are to supersede the legislature of Pennsylvania, will not be of the choice of the people, nor amenable to them. From the mode of their election and appointment they will consist of the lordly and high-minded; of men who will have no congenial feelings with the people, but a perfect indifference for, and contempt of them ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ We dissent, secondly, because the powers vested in Congress by this constitution, must necessarily annihilate and absorb the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the several states, and produce from their ruins one consolidated government, which from the nature of things will be an iron handed despotism, as nothing short of the supremacy of despotic sway could connect and govern these United States under one government. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ That in all capital and criminal prosecutions, a man has a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, as well in the federal courts, as in those of the several states; to be heard by himself and his counsel, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses; to call for evidence in his favor, and a speedy trial by an impartial jury of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent, he cannot be found guilty, nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself; and that no man be deprived of his liberty, except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The permanency of the appointments of senators and representatives, and the control the congress have over their election, will place them independent of the sentiments and resentment of the people, and the administration having a greater interest in the government than in the community, there will be no consideration to restrain them from oppression and tyranny. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The legislative power vested in Congress by the foregoing recited sections, is so unlimited in its nature, may be so comprehensive and boundless in its exercise, that this alone would be amply sufficient to annihilate the state governments, and swallow them up in the grand vortex of general empire. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The powers of a court of equity, vested by this constitution, in the tribunals of Congress; powers which do not exist in Pennsylvania, unless so far as they can be incorporated with jury trial would, in this state, greatly contribute to this event. The rich and wealthy suitors would eagerly lay hold of the infinite mazes perplexities and delays, which a court of chancery, with the appellate powers of the supreme court in fact as well as law would furnish him with, and thus the poor man being plunged in the bottomless pit of legal discussion, would drop his demand in despair. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ First, the personal liberty of every man probably from sixteen to sixty years of age, may be destroyed by the power Congress have in organizing and governing of the militia. As militia they may be subjected to fines to any amount, levied in a military manner; they may be subjected to corporal punishments of the most disgraceful and humiliating kind, and to death itself, by the sentence of a court martial: To this our young men will be more immediately subjected, as a select militia, composed of them, will best answer the purposes of government. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The framers of this constitution appear to have been aware of this great deficiency; to have been sensible that no dependence could be placed on the people for their support: but on the contrary, that the government must be executed by force. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ We dissent, Thirdly, Because if it were practicable to govern so extensive a territory as these United States includes on the plan of a consolidated government, consistent with the principles of liberty and the happiness of the people, yet the construction of this constitution is not calculated to attain the object, for independent of the nature of the case, it would of itself, necessarily, produce a despotism, and that not by the usual gradations, but with the celerity that has hitherto only attended revolutions effected by the sword. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The legislature of a free country should be so formed as to have a competent knowledge of its constituents, and enjoy their confidence. To produce these essential requisites, the representation ought to be fair, equal, and sufficiently numerous, to possess the same interests, feelings, opinions, and views, which the people themselves would possess, were they all assembled ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ This is the more remarkable, because even when the distresses of the late war, and the evident disaffection of many citizens of that description, inflamed our passions, and when every person, who was obliged to risque his own life, must have been exasperated against such as on any account kept back from the common danger, yet even then, when outrage and violence might have been expected, the rights of conscience were held sacred. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The first consideration that this review suggests, is the omission of a BILL of RIGHTS, ascertaining and fundamentally establishing those unalienable and personal rights of men, without the full, free, and secure enjoyment of which there can be no liberty, and over which it is not necessary for a good government to have the control. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ In the government of this state, under the old confederation, the members of the legislature are taken from among the people, and their interests and welfare are so inseparably connected with those of their constituents, that they can derive no advantage from oppressive laws and taxes, for they would suffer in common with their fellow citizens ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ Thus it appears that the liberties, happiness, interests, and great concerns of the whole United States, may be dependent upon the integrity, virtue, wisdom, and knowledge of 25 or 26 men. How unadequate and unsafe a representation! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ I think not, as I have given reasons to show that so extensive a territory could not be governed, connected, and preserved, but by the supremacy of despotic power. All the exertions of the most potent emperors of Rome were not capable of keeping that empire together, which in extent was far inferior to the dominion of America. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The standing army must be numerous, and as a further support, it will be the policy of this government to multiply officers in every department: judges, collectors, taxgatherers, excisemen and the whole host of revenue officers will swarm over the land, devouring the hard earnings of the industrious. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The other orders in the society, such as farmers, traders, and mechanics, who all ought to have a competent number of their best informed men in the legislature, will be totally unrepresented.
The representation is unsafe, because in the exercise of such great powers and trusts, it is so exposed to corruption and undue influence, by the gift of the numerous places of honor and emoluments at the disposal of the executive ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ The new constitution, consistently with the plan of consolidation, contains no reservation of the rights and privileges of the state governments, which was made in the confederation of the year 1778, by article the 2d, viz., "That each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ As there is no one article of taxation reserved to the state governments, the Congress may monopolise every source of revenue, and thus indirectly demolish the state governments, for without funds they could not exist, the taxes, duties and excises imposed by Congress may be so high as to render it impracticable to levy further sums on the same articles ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ True, the state legislatures may be continued for some years, as boards of appointment, merely, after they are divested of every other function, but the framers of the constitution foreseeing that the people will soon be disgusted with this solemn mockery of a government without power and usefulness have made a provision for relieving them from the imposition, in section 4th, of article 1st, viz., "The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ We dissent, first, because it is the opinion of the most celebrated writers on government, and confirmed experience, that a very extensive territory cannot be governed on the principles of freedom, otherwise than by a confederation of republics, possessing all the powers of internal government ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ They may impose what imposts upon commerce; they may impose what land taxes, poll taxes, excises, duties on all written instruments, and duties on every other article that they may judge proper; in short, every species of taxation, whether of an external or internal nature is comprised in section the 8th, of article the 1st, viz., "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ That the trial by jury, which is the grand characteristic of the common law, is secured by the constitution, only in criminal cases._2d. That the appeal from both law and fact is expressly established, which is utterly inconsistent with the principles of the common law, and trials by jury. The only mode in which an appeal from law and fact can be established, is, by adopting the principles and practice of the civil law ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ That no law shall be passed to restrain the legislatures of the several states from enacting laws for imposing taxes, except imposts and duties upon goods imported or exported, and postage on letters shall be levied by the authority of Congress. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ Some of those who opposed their going so far beyond their powers, retired, hopeless, from the convention others had the firmness to refuse signing the plan altogether, and many who did sign it, did it not as a system they wholly approved, but as the best that could be then obtained, and notwithstanding the time spent on this subject, it is agreed on all hands to be a work of haste and accommodation. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention, The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (1787)

“ Secondly, the rights of conscience may be violated, as there is no exemption of those persons who are conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. These compose a respectable proportion of the community in the state. ”

Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention

Summary

Quotes from The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania to their… (Twenty-one members of the minority at the Pennsylvania convention)

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