At the period of
the formation of the Constitution the principle does not appear to
have enjoyed much favor in the State governments. It existed but
in two, and in one of these there was a plural executive. If we
would search for the motives which operated upon the purely
patriotic and enlightened assembly which framed the Constitution
for the adoption of a provision so apparently repugnant to the
leading democratic principle that the majority should govern, we
must reject the idea that they anticipated from it any benefit to
the ordinary course of legislation. They knew too well the high
degree of intelligence which existed among the people and the
enlightened character of the State legislatures not to have the
fullest confidence that the two bodies elected by them would be
worthy representatives of such constituents, and, of course, that
they would require no aid in conceiving and maturing the measures
which the circumstances of the country might require. And it is
preposterous to suppose that a thought could for a moment have
been entertained that the President, placed at the capital, in the
center of the country, could better understand the wants and
wishes of the people than their own immediate representatives, who
spend a part of every year among them, living with them, often
laboring with them, and bound to them by the triple tie of
interest, duty, and affection.
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