Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America by John Adams
“The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire an influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense, in a house of representatives.”
A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Preface (Works of John Adams, ed. C. F. Adams, vol. 4 (1851))
The argument for a separate senate, which Adams calls an honest and useful ostracism of the most influential citizens.
Citation: "The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire an influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense, in a house of representatives." — John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Preface (Works of John Adams, ed. C. F. Adams, vol. 4 (1851)). (id a-defence-of-the-constitutions-q3)
Portrait: John Adams, Gilbert Stuart, Public domain.
