On the record
The second consists in the doctrine of the divine right of majorities; a doctrine not less false, and slavish, and absurd, than the ancient doctrine of the divine right of kings.
Said by
Lewis Tappan
Source
gutenberg.orgLewis Tappan: “The second consists in the doctrine of the divine right of majorities; a doctrine not less false, and slavish, and…”
Editor's note · Context
Tappan argues against the idea that majority rule is inherently just, comparing it to the outdated notion of the divine right of kings.
Share
More from Lewis Tappan
Hence multitudes will be without regular and profitable employment, and be condemned to poverty and numberless privations.
You both know and feel that slavery has rendered labor disgraceful among you; and where this is the case, industry is necessarily discouraged.
But what a commentary on slavery and slaveholders is afforded by the gross ignorance prevailing in the old States of South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina!
It is so commonly taken for granted, that every white man at the South is a slaveholder, that many will doubtingly inquire, where are these non-slaveholding citizens to be found?