Quote#Politics & Power
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable…
Quote byAlexander Hamilton · 1757–1804
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech in New York, urging ratification of the U.S. Constitution (21 June 1788).
English (original)
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.
— Alexander Hamilton
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Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.
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If the end be clearly comprehended within any of the specified powers, and if the measure have an obvious relation to that end, and is not forbidden by any particular provision of the Constitution, it may safely be deemed to come within …