“How prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best-formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their check and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism.” James Monroe, (1758-1831), 5th US President. Source: speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788.
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