There is yet one greater,
submission to a government of unlimited powers. It is only when the
hope of avoiding this shall become absolutely desperate, that further
forbearance could not be indulged. Should a majority of the co-parties,
therefore, contrary to the expectation and hope of this Assembly,
prefer, at this time, acquiescence in these assumptions of power by the
federal member of the government, we will be patient and suffer much,
under the confidence that time, ere it be too late, will prove to them
also the bitter consequences in which that usurpation will involve us
all. In the mean while, we will breast with them, rather than separate
from them, every misfortune, save that only of living under a government
of unlimited powers. We owe every other sacrifice to ourselves, to our
federal brethren, and to the world at large, to pursue with temper and
perseverance the great experiment which shall prove that man is capable
of living in society, governing itself by laws self-imposed, and
securing to its members the enjoyment of life, liberty, property, and
peace; and further to show, that even when the government of its choice
shall manifest a tendency to degeneracy, we are not at once to despair
but that the will and the watchfulness of its sounder parts will reform
its aberrations, recall it to original and legitimate principles, and
restrain it within the rightful limits of self-government.
Pages:
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705