On the recordJanuary 1, 1791
A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution, is power without a right.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgThomas Paine: “A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a…”
Editor's note · Context
This passage distinguishes a constitution as an act of the people from the government it establishes, asserting that legitimate power derives from a constitution.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
Jan 1, 1791
The American constitutions were to liberty what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax.
Jan 1, 1791
Whether robbery shall be banished from courts, and wretchedness from countries?
Jan 1, 1791
The meaning, then, good people, of all this, is: That government is governed by no principle whatever; that it can make evil good, or good evil, just as it pleases.