The Rise and Growth of American Politics: A Sketch of Constitutional Development

Front Cover
Macmillan, 1898 - United States - 409 pages

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 104 - All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control; counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency.
Page 85 - There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty.
Page 19 - But when contending chiefs blockade the throne, Contracting regal power to stretch their own, When I behold a factious band agree To call it freedom when themselves are free ; Each wanton judge new penal statutes draw, Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law...
Page 56 - Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.
Page 174 - ... to suspend the passage of a bill, whose merits cannot secure the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon...
Page 337 - A species of men to whom a state of order would become a sentence of obscurity, are nourished into a dangerous magnitude by the heat of intestine disturbances ; and it is no wonder that, by a sort of sinister piety, they cherish, in their turn, the disorders which are the parents of all their consequence.
Page 329 - Implore his aid, in his decisions rest, Secure whate'er he gives, he gives the best. Yet, when the sense of sacred presence fires, And strong devotion to the skies aspires, Pour...
Page 85 - A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different...
Page 88 - ... speculation, peculation, and an insatiable thirst for riches, seem to have got the better of every other consideration, and almost of every order of men ; that party disputes and personal quarrels are the great business of the day...
Page 328 - Sign her foes' doom, or guard her fav'rites' zeal ? Through Freedom's sons no more remonstrance rings, Degrading nobles, and controlling kings ; Our supple tribes repress their patriot throats, And ask no questions but the price of votes ; With weekly libels and septennial ale, Their wish is full to riot and to rail. In full-blown dignity, see Wolsey stand, Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand...

Bibliographic information