Gazette Of The United States

There is not a government on earth which is so completely in the hands of the people as that of the United States. By preserving and strengthening it, the people secure their own power. For they have no other means of acting as a people, and it is not easy to conceive of any half as effectual. The state governments reach to almost every object. The national government seems to be in the air over men's heads, and barely touches their individual concerns. The power of the latter is so limited, that it is little, and so divided with the state governments, that it is less than the letter of the constitution seems to give: It has fewer officers than any sovereign government in the world. Look round, and see how few there are who have more than a common interest to support it. It is a trust, and a precious one in the people's own hands to keep it inviolate. It is their own; therefore it deserves their confidence, and will reward their care.