Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/176

138 "  or council chooing hould conit of the interet of the commonwealth; as the widom of the commonwealth is in the aritocracy, o the interet of the commonwealth is in the whole body of the people: and whereas this, in cae the commonwealth conits of a whole nation, is too unwieldy a body to be aembled, this council is to conit of uch a repreentative as may be equal, and o contituted as it can never contract any other interet than that of the whole people. But, in the preent cae, the ix dividing, and the fourteen chooing, mut of neceity take in the whole interet of the twenty. Dividing and chooing, in the language of a commonwealth, is debating and reolving; and whatever, upon debate of the enate, is propoed to the people, and reolved by them, is enacted by the authority of the fathers, and by the power of the people—auctoritate patrum et juu populi; which concurring, make a law."

Upon thee principles, and to etablih a method of enacting laws that mut of neceity be wie and equal, the people of mot of the United States of America agreed upon that diviion of the legilative power into two houes, the houe of repreentatives and the enate, which has given o much digut to Mr. Turgot. Harrington will hew us, equally well, the propriety and neceity of the other branch, the governor: but before we proceed to that, it may be worth while to oberve the imilitude between this paage, and ome of thoe entiments and expreions of Swift, which were quoted in a former letter; and there is in the Idea of a Patriot King, written by his friend Lord Bolingbroke, a paage to the ame purpoe, o nobly expreed, that I cannot forbear the pleaure of cribing