Tag: Fisher Ames

(1758-1808) American statesman, orator and political writer

Laws needed to protect liberty

I am commonly opposed to those who modestly assume the rank of champions of liberty, and make a very patriotic noise about the people. It is the stale artifice which has duped the world a thousand times, and yet, though detected, it is still successful. I love liberty as well as anybody. I am proud of it, as the true title of our people to distinction above others; but … I would guard it by making the laws strong enough to protect it.

A republic, not a democracy

… [O]ur sages in the great [constitutional] convention … intended our government should be a republic which differs more widely from a democracy than a democracy from a despotism. The rigours of a despotism often … oppress only a few, but it is the very essence and nature of a democracy, for a faction claiming to oppress a minority, and that minority the chief owners of the property and truest lovers of their country.