"It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It [the Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect."
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- Thomas Jefferson, (Opinion on a National Bank, 15 February 1791)
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Believe that Mr. Jefferson had similar ideas about the Courts as well;
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"At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent, sapping, by little and little, the foundations of the constitution, and working its change by construction, before any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account."
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- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Monsieur A. Coray, 31 October 1823
2 comments:
Hello Katrina,
Yes, we are from Norway. Most of the family came over and settled in the Minnesota, North/South Dakota and Wisconsin areas.
Katrina,
Yes, if they are the ones that have a son named Miles. With a name like Quammen you almost have to be related to anyone else that has it, in some way.
My regular E-Mail is info@GunShowOnTheNet.com
Have a good one!
Best,
David
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