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Often appears with: forms of government · elections and representation · political legitimacy and consent · rights and liberties · monarchy and royal succession · faction, party, and civil strife · education and the training of the young · u.s. president eligibility · tocqueville · republican liberty and abuses · republic vs democracy · reform of parliament
Usually: argument (6) · exhortation (4) · skepticism (3) · reflection (2) · detachment (2) · censure (1) · curiosity (1) · indignation (1) · praise (1)
“To inherit a government, is to inherit the people, as if they were flocks and herds.” Thomas Paine, The Writings of Thomas Paine — Volume 2 (1779-1792): · vivid
“Accordingly aristocratic rule, the government of the Few in any of its shapes, being in his eyes the only thing which stood between mankind and an administration of their affairs by the best wisdom to be found among them, was the object of his sternest disapprobation.” John Stuart Mill, Autobiography · insight
Madison responds to critics who claim republican government cannot cover vast territory, arguing that republics use representatives and can be large, then defending the Constitution’s practicable scope across the Union’s distance.
To the People of the State of New York: We have seen the necessity of the Union, as our bulwark against foreign danger, as the conservator of peace among ourselves, as the guardian of our commerce and other common interests, as the only substitute for those military establishments which have subverted the liberties of the Old World, and as the proper antidote for the diseases of faction, which have proved fatal to o…
Paine contrasts “old” hereditary government with “new” representative government, addressing Abbé Sieyès and arguing hereditary succession is illegitimate and inherently tyrannical because it treats people as inheritable property.
Nothing can appear more contradictory than the principles on which the old governments began, and the condition to which society, civilisation and commerce are capable of carrying mankind. Government, on the old system, is an assumption of power, for the aggrandisement of itself; on the new, a delegation of power for the common benefit of society. The former supports itself by keeping up a system of war; the latter p…
Paine argues freedom comes from representative government rather than hereditary rule, warns against extraordinary power and pay, and claims U.S. presidential limits make such corruption harder.
of his property in peace and safety, and with the least possible expense. When these things are accomplished, all the objects for which government ought to be established are answered. It has been customary to consider government under three distinct general heads. The legislative, the executive, and the judicial. But if we permit our judgment to act unincumbered by the habit of multiplied terms, we can perceive no…
Mill’s preface says his book systematizes principles he has developed for years, prompted by debates on Reform of Parliament, and aims to offer a more comprehensive political doctrine for both Liberals and Conservatives.
CONSIDERATIONS ON REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT By John Stuart Mill Author Of "A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive" [Redactor's note: Italics are indicated by underscores surrounding the *italicized text*.] [Footnotes initially found throughout the text have been numbered and placed at the end of the text.] Preface Those who have done me the honor of reading my previous writings will probably receive no …
Mill summarizes their creed: confidence in representative government and freedom of discussion, faith that education and suffrage secure general-interest legislation, hostility to aristocratic rule and clerical institutions, and a psychological view of character shaped by circumstance and association.
through a voluntary restriction of the increase of their numbers. The other leading characteristics of the creed, which we held in common with my father, may be stated as follows: In politics, an almost unbounded confidence in the efficacy of two things: representative government, and complete freedom of discussion. So complete was my father's reliance on the influence of reason over the minds of mankind, whenever i…
He explains a gradual shift from pure democracy to a modified representative model, sparked by Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, which praised democracy while analyzing its specific dangers and needed safeguards.
shifting of my political ideal from pure democracy, as commonly understood by its partisans, to the modified form of it, which is set forth in my _Considerations on Representative Government_. This last change, which took place very gradually, dates its commencement from my reading, or rather study, of M. de Tocqueville's *Democracy in America*, which fell into my hands immediately after its first appearance. In tha…
Mill reports that from 1859 to 1865 he published only a limited set of major writings, then launched cheap People’s Editions for working men and accepted reduced profits.
the attempt. This I accordingly did in two essays, published in successive numbers of the *Westminster Review*, and reprinted in a small volume under the title *Auguste Comte and Positivism*. The writings which I have now mentioned, together with a small number of papers in periodicals which I have not deemed worth preserving, were the whole of the products of my activity as a writer during the years from 1859 to 18…
Madison defends popular election with a large-sphere remedy against majority combinations, while other delegates urge balance between national and state governments; the discussion covers representation, threats to minority rights, and how to design a national system.
danger of improper elections if made by *large* districts. Bad elections proceed from the smallness of the districts which give an opportunity to bad men to intrigue themselves into office. M^r Sherman. If it were in view to abolish the State Gov^{ts} the elections ought to be by the people. If the State Gov^{ts} are to be continued, it is necessary in order to preserve harmony between the National & State Gov^{ts} …