Man is the glory, jest, and riddle of the world.
Pope.
Incredible transition! the people who, seven years ago, deemed every
earthly good, every other consideration, as worthless, when placed
in competition with liberty, that heaven-born blessing, that zest of
all others; the people, who, actuated by this noble ardor of
patriotism, rose superior to every weakness of humanity, and shone
with such dazzling lustre amidst the greatest difficulties; who,
emulous of eclipsing each other in the glorious assertion of the
dignity of human nature, courted every danger, and were ever ready,
when necessary, to lay down their lives at the altar of liberty: I
say the people, who exhibited so lately a spectacle, that commanded
the admiration, and drew the plaudits of the most distant nations,
are now reversing the picture, are now lost to every noble
principle, are about to sacrifice that inestimable jewel liberty, to
the genius of despotism. A golden phantom held out to them, by the
crafty and aspiring despots among themselves, is alluring them into
the fangs of arbitrary power; and so great is their infatuation,
that it seems, as if nothing short of the reality of misery
necessarily attendant on slavery, will rouse them from their false
confidence, or convince them of the direful deception: but then
alas! it will be too late, the chains of despotism will be fast
rivetted and all escape precluded.
For years past, the harpies of power have been industriously
inculcating the idea that all our difficulties proceed from the
impotency of Congress, and have at length succeeded to give to this
sentiment almost universal currency and belief: the devastations,
losses and burthens occasioned by the late war; the excessive
importations of foreign merchandise and luxuries, which have drained
the country of its specie and involved it in debt, are all
overlooked, and the inadequacy of the powers of the present
confederation is erroneously supposed to be the only cause of our
difficulties; hence persons of every description are revelling in
the anticipation of the halcyon days, consequent on the
establishment of the new constitution.—What gross deception and
fatal delusion! Although very considerable benefit might be derived
from strengthening the hands of Congress, so as to enable them to
regulate commerce, and counteract the adverse restrictions of other
nations, which would meet with the concurrence of all persons; yet
this benefit, is accompanied in the new constitution with the
scourge of despotic power, that will render the citizens of America
tenants at will of every species of property, of every enjoyment,
and make them the meer drudges of government. The gilded bait
conceals corrosives that will eat up their whole substance. Storing, Herbert J., ed. The Complete
Anti-Federalist. 7 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.