august, than an assembly like that which has so often been seen in
this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Government in which
the Executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of
the Legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular
periods by their neighbors to make and execute laws for the
general good. Can anything essential, anything more than mere
ornament and decoration, be added to this by robes and diamonds?
Can authority be more amiable and respectable when it descends
from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity
than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an
honest and enlightened people? For it is the people only that are
represented. It is their power and majesty that is reflected, and
only for their good, in every legitimate government, under
whatever form it may appear. The existence of such a government as
ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general
dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of
the people. And what object or consideration more pleasing than
this can be presented to the human mind? If national pride is ever
justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or
riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national
innocence, information, and benevolence.

In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to
ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our
liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the
purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If
an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote,
and that can be procured by a party through artifice or
corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its
own ends, not of the nation for the national good. If that