1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
16
19
20
21

which we are here assembled.
Democracy can only operate when responsibility
is clearly assigned to a single individual; that individual
after being given the power to discharge his responsibility
is periodically called to account to the people for his
stewardship.
Lower the lines of authority, lower the lines
of responsibility, then you diminish the democratic process.
I should like to conclude my few remarks here
in presenting this portion of the Majority Report by a quo-
tation from Alexander Hamilton, writing on this precise
problem, which arose in the great convention of all
times, the convention that wrote our existing Federal
Constitution. This question was debated at length, pre-
sumably based on the notes of that Convention on the Floor
of that body, and was subsequently the subject of much
debate among the people at the time when the document was
up for final ratification.
The root paper perhaps of all in terms of
checks and balances is No. 70 of the Federalist paper, and
with your indulgence, I should like to conclude by reading