In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to contr… - Alexander Hamilton

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Engraved portrait of Alexander Hamilton, facing left

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

English
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About Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton (11 January 1755 or 1757 – 12 July 1804) was a Founding Father of the United States, chief staff aide to General George Washington, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the U.S. Constitution, the founder of the nation's financial system, the founder of the Federalist Party, the world's first voter-based political party, the Father of the United States Coast Guard, and the founder of The New York Post.

Biography information from Wikiquote · Portrait adapted from Wikimedia Commons, John Trumbull (Public domain / CC0)

Also Known As

Pen Names: Publius
Alternative Names: Hamilton Alexander Hamilton, US Treasury secretary A. Ham

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Additional quotes by Alexander Hamilton

A FIRM Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States, as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection. It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy.

New Hampshire, whose constitution was the last formed, seems to have been fully aware of the impossibility and inexpediency of avoiding any mixture whatever of these departments, and has qualified the doctrine by declaring “that the legislative, executive, and judiciary powers ought to be kept as separate from, and independent of, each other as the nature of a free government will admit; or as is consistent wth that chain of connection that binds the whole fabric of the Constitution in one indissoluble bond of unity and amity.

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There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism

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