Benjamin Franklin, "This, he thought, was contrary to republican principles. In free governments, the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns...."

   [George Mason]--"...Having for his primary object--for the polar star of his political conduct--the preservation of the rights of the people, he held it as an essential point, as the very palladium of civil liberty, that the great officers of state, and particularly the executive, should at fixed periods return to that mass from which they were at first taken, in order that they may feel and respect those rights and interests which are again to be personally valuable to them. He concluded with moving, that the constitution of the executive, as reported by the committee of the whole, be reinstated, viz., "that the executive be appointed for seven years, and be ineligible a second time."

   Mr. DAVIE seconded the motion.

   Dr. FRANKLIN. It seems to have been imagined by some, that the returning to the mass of the people was degrading the magistrate. This, he thought, was contrary to republican principles. In free governments, the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns. For the former, therefore, to return among the latter, was not to degrade, but to promote, them. And it would be imposing an unreasonable burden on them, to keep them always in a state of servitude, and not allow them to become again one of the masters.

[July 26, 1787, Debates In The Federal Convention Of 1787, Held At Philadelphia. [Elliot’s Debates, Vol. V, Pg. 369]