Alexander Hamilton’s essay “Shall the majority govern or be…
Alexander Hamilton’s essay “Shall the majority govern or be governed?” was written in 1794 denouncing the whiskey rebels and majority rule: “It has been observed that the means most likely to be employed to turn the insurrection in the western country to the detriment of the government, would be artfully calculated among other things ‘to divert your attention from the true question to be decided.’ Let us see then what is this question. It is plainly this- shall the majority govern or be governed? shall the nation rule, or be ruled? shall the general will prevail, or the will of a faction? shall there be government, or no government?… The Constitution you have ordained for yourself and your posterity contains this express clause, ‘The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and Excises [tax on good], to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.’ You have then, by a solemn and deliberate act, the most important and sacred that a nation can perform, pronounced and decreed, that your Representatives in Congress shall have power to lay Excises. You have done nothing since to reverse or impair that decree… But four western counties of Pennsylvania, undertake the rejudge and reverse your decrees, you have said, ‘The Congress shall have power to lay Excises.’ They say, ‘The Congress shall not have this power.’… There is no road to despotism more sure or mor to be dreaded than that which begins at anarchy.” What is a major argument put forth by Hamilton?
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