Friday, June 24, 2011

Constitution

cropped Thomas Paine (1737 Р1809) oil painting by Auguste Milli̬re (1880)A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either.

-- Thomas Paine (1737-1809), Rights of Man (1791)

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