On the record
So that, by changing the sense of that single word, some ten or twenty different constitutions could be made out of the same written instrument.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “So that, by changing the sense of that single word, some ten or twenty different constitutions could be made out of the…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner explains how changing the interpretation of a single word can lead to multiple constitutions.
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More from Lysander Spooner
They neither ask, nor expect, any mercy, if they should ever fall into the hands of honest men.
They do not tell us that they have established infallible supreme courts, to whom they refer all questions as to the legality of their acts, and that they do nothing that is not sanctioned by these courts.
They do not tell us of the almshouses, hospitals, schools, churches, etc., which, out of the purest charity and benevolence, they maintain for our benefit, out of the money they take from us.
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.