Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/15

§ 523. The general reasoning, by which the maxim is supported, independently of the just weight of the authority in its support, seems entirely satisfactory. What is of far more value than any mere reasoning, experience has demonstrated it to be founded in a just view of the nature of government, and the safety and liberty of the people. And it is no small commendation of the constitution of the United States, that instead of adopting anew theory, it has placed this practical truth, as the basis of its organization. It has placed the legislative, executive, and judicial powers in different hands. It has, as we shall presently see, made their term of office and their organization different; and, for objects of permanent and paramount importance, has given to the judicial department a tenure of office during good be-

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government. It will be no alleviation, that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those, who doubt it, turn their eyes on the republic of Venice. An elective despotism is not the government we fought for; but one, which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others." Yet Virginia lived voluntarily under this constitution more than fifty years;^{[a 1]} and, notwithstanding this solemn warning by her own favourite statesman, in the recent revision of her old constitution and the formation of a new one, she has not in this respect changed the powers of the government. The legislature still remains with all its great powers.
No person, however, has examined this whole subject more profoundly, and with more illustrations from history and political philosophy, than Mr. John Adams, in his celebrated Defence of the American Constitutions. It deserves a thorough perusal by every statesman.
Milton was an open advocate for concentrating all powers, legislative and executive, in one body; and his opinions, as well as those of some other men of a philosophical cast, are sufficiently wild and extravagant to put us upon our guard against too much reliance on mere authority.^{[a 2]}

1. See 2 Pitkin's Hist. 298, 299, 300.
2. See 1 Adams's Def. of Amer. Const. 365 to 371.