Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention 20 June 1788:
No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.
The creeping tyranny of our government is not the result of a faulty Constitution. A debauched people are responsible.
THIS, is Patrick Henry:
"That government is no more than a choice among evils, is acknowledged by the most intelligent among mankind, and has been a standing maxim for ages. If it be demonstrated that the adoption of the new plan is a little or a trifling evil, then, sir, I acknowledge that adoption ought to follow; but, sir, if this be a truth, that its adoption may entail misery on the free people of this country, I then insist that rejection ought to follow."
Patrick Henry, June 7th, 1788