Second Thought

I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober, second thought of the people shall be law.

-- Fisher Ames (1758-1808), Massachusetts Congressman, speech on Biennial Elections before the Convention of Massachusetts (January 1788), reported in Seth Ames, John Thornton Kirkland, Works of Fisher Ames with a Selection from His Speeches and Correspondence (1854) p. 7