Among these privileges and immunities may doubtless be classed
the right to life and liberty, to the acquisition and enjoyment of
property, and to the free pursuit of one's own welfare, so far as such
pursuit does not interfere with the rights and welfare of others; but
what security has any one for the enjoyment of these rights when denied
any voice in the making of the laws, or in the choice of those who make,
and those who administer them? The possession of this voice, in the
making and administration of the laws--this _political_ right--is what
gives security and value to the other rights, which are merely personal,
not political. A person deprived of political rights is essentially a
slave, because he holds his personal rights subject to the will of those
who possess the political power. This principle constitutes the very
corner-stone of our government--indeed, of all republican government.
Upon that basis our separation from Great Britain was justified.
"Taxation without representation is tyranny." This famous aphorism of
James Otis, although sufficient for the occasion when it was put forth,
expresses but a fragment of the principle, because government can be
oppressive through means of many appliances besides that of taxation.
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