The conclusion which I am warranted in drawing from these observations
is, that a mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of
the several departments, is not a sufficient guard against those
encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers
of government in the same hands.
PUBLIUS
____
FEDERALIST No. 49
Method of Guarding Against the Encroachments of Any One Department of
Government by Appealing to the People Through a Convention
For the Independent Journal.
Saturday, February 2, 1788.
MADISON
To the People of the State of New York:
THE author of the "Notes on the State of Virginia," quoted in the last
paper, has subjoined to that valuable work the draught of a
constitution, which had been prepared in order to be laid before a
convention, expected to be called in 1783, by the legislature, for the
establishment of a constitution for that commonwealth. The plan, like
every thing from the same pen, marks a turn of thinking, original,
comprehensive, and accurate; and is the more worthy of attention as it
equally displays a fervent attachment to republican government and an
enlightened view of the dangerous propensities against which it ought to
be guarded.
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