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A new Constitution does not produce its full effect as long as all its subjects were reared under an old Constitution, as long as its statesmen were trained by that old Constitution.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “A new Constitution does not produce its full effect as long as all its subjects were reared under an old Constitution…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot argues that a new constitution's effects are not fully realized until the populace is accustomed to it.
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More from Walter Bagehot
I own that I do not entirely sympathise with the horror of these anomalies which haunts some of our best critics.
These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.
I cannot, therefore, join in the full cry against anomalies; in my judgment it may quickly overrun the scent, and so miss what we should be glad to find.
Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only admit, but maintain, that our Constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out.
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