Is it to be presumed, that at any future septennial epoch the same State
will be free from parties? Is it to be presumed that any other State, at
the same or any other given period, will be exempt from them? Such an
event ought to be neither presumed nor desired; because an extinction of
parties necessarily implies either a universal alarm for the public
safety, or an absolute extinction of liberty.
Were the precaution taken of excluding from the assemblies elected by
the people, to revise the preceding administration of the government,
all persons who should have been concerned with the government within
the given period, the difficulties would not be obviated. The important
task would probably devolve on men, who, with inferior capacities, would
in other respects be little better qualified. Although they might not
have been personally concerned in the administration, and therefore not
immediately agents in the measures to be examined, they would probably
have been involved in the parties connected with these measures, and
have been elected under their auspices.
PUBLIUS
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FEDERALIST No. 51
The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks
and Balances Between the Different Departments
For the Independent Journal.
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