They may be wrong in their position, but they will not be content until
their arguments are fairly, truthfully and candidly answered.
In the most celebrated document which has been put forth on this side of
the Atlantic, our ancestors declared that "governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the governed."
Blackstone says, "The lawfulness of punishing such criminals (i.e.,
persons offending merely against the laws of society) is founded upon
this principle: that the law by which they suffer was made by their own
consent; it is a part of the original contract into which they entered
when first they engaged in society; it was calculated for and has long
contributed to their own security."
Quotations, to an unlimited extent, containing similar doctrines from
eminent writers, both English and American, on government, from the time
of John Locke to the present day, might be made. Without adopting this
doctrine which bases the rightfulness of government upon the consent of
the governed, I claim that there is implied in it the narrower and
unassailable principle that all citizens of a State, who are bound by
its laws, are entitled to an equal voice in the making and execution of
such laws. The doctrine is well stated by Godwin in his treatise on
Political Justice.
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