The Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York: Assembled at Poughkeepsie on the 17th June, 1788. A Fac-simile Reprint of an Original Copy in the Adriance Memorial Library

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Vassar Brothers Institute, 1788 - Constitutional conventions - 144 pages

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Page 10 - And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
Page 25 - In every human society, (says the celebrated Marquis Beccaria) there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort, and to diffuse their influence universally and equally.
Page 13 - We contend that the radical vice in the old confederation is, that the laws of the Union apply only to States in their corporate capacity. Has not every man who has been in our legislature experienced the truth of this position? It is inseparable from the disposition of bodies who have a constitutional power of resistance, to examine the merits of a law.
Page 28 - They do not reflect, that he is to return to the community; that he is dependent on the will of the people, and that it cannot be his interest to oppose their wishes.
Page 31 - ... -truth, and teach us our real interests. I do not suppose this to be the design of the gentlemen. Why then are we told so often of an aristocracy? For my part, I hardly know the meaning of this word as it is applied. If all we hear be true, this government is really a very bad one.
Page 10 - And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king, which ye shall have chosen you ; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
Page 87 - I insist that it never can be the interest or desire of the national legislature to destroy the State governments. It can derive no advantage from such an event ; but, on the contrary, would lose an indispensable support, a necessary aid in executing the laws and conveying the influence of government to the doors of the people.
Page 10 - He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and put them to his work.
Page 31 - Does the new government render a rich man more eligible than a poor one? No. It requires no such qualification. It is bottomed on the broad and equal principle of your state constitution.
Page 28 - In these, the will of the people makes the essential principle of the government; and the laws which control the community, receive their tone and spirit from the public wishes. It is the fortunate situation of our country, that the minds of the people are exceedingly enlightened and refined.

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