"If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was, the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire. They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. If this definition is just, the British constitution is nothing more or less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection to the government's being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the people have a voice in making, and a right to defend." | by: | John Adams
(1735-1826) Founding Father, 2nd US President |
Source: | Novanglus, in Boston Gazette, 6Mar1775, Adams Papers, V II, p. 314 |
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