"At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent, sapping, by little and little, the foundations of the constitution, and working its change by construction, before any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account."
-- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to Monsieur A. Coray, October 31, 1823. _________________________________________________________ -- _________________________________________________________ "The germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal judiciary; an irresponsible body, (for impeachment is scarcely a scare-crow) working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all be consolidated into one." -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to Charles Hammond, August 18, 1821. _________________________________________________________ -- ___________________________________________________________ "The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone." -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to Thomas Ritchie, December 25, 1820. ___________________________________________________________ -- _______________________________________________________ "The Constitution ... is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please." -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to Judge Spencer Roane, September 6, 1819. _______________________________________________________ -- __________________________________________________________ "One single object ... [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation." -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to Edward Livingston, March 25, 1825. __________________________________________________________ -- ____________________________________________________________ "On every question of construction [of the Constitution], carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter To Justice William Johnson, June 12, 1823. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Our efforts depend on donations from people like you. Directions for donors are at http://www.constitution.org/whatucando.htm Constitution Society 7793 Burnet Road #37, Austin, TX 78757 512/374-9585 www.constitution.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get your free digital certificate from http://www.thawte.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/KlSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
