ican constitution. The justices thus chosen by every ward, would
constitute the county court, would do its judiciary business, direct
roads and bridges, levy county and poor rates, and administer all the
matters of common interest to the whole county. These wards, called
townships in New England, are the vital principle of their governments,
and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the
wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government, and for its
preservation. We should thus marshal our government into, 1. The general
federal republic, for all concerns foreign and federal; 2. That of the
State, for what relates to our own citizens exclusively; 3. The county
republics, for the duties and concerns of the county; and, 4. The ward
republics, for the small, and yet numerous and interesting concerns of
the neighborhood: and in government, as well as in every other business
of life, it is by division and sub-division of duties alone, that all
matters, great and small, can be managed to perfection. And the whole
is cemented by giving to every citizen, personally, a part in the
administration of the public affairs.

The sum of these amendments is, 1. General suffrage. 2. Equal
representation in the legislature. 3. An executive chosen by the people.
4. Judges elective or amovable. 5. Justices, jurors, and sheriffs
elective. 6. Ward divisions. And, 7. Periodical amendments of the
constitution.

I have thrown out these, as loose heads of amendment, for consideration
and correction: and their object is to secure self-government by the
republicanism of our constitution, as well as by the spirit of the
people; and to nourish and perpetuate that spirit. I am not among those
who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for
continued freedom. And to preserve their independence, we must not
let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election
between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into
such debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in
our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for
our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people,
like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the
earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily
expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we
must live, as they now do, on oatmeal an