John Lansing Jr. Quotes
Every amendment which I am convinced will have the tendency to lesson the danger of civil liberty by the central government will receive my sincere approbation.
John Lansing Jr., 1754-1829, Member, Continental Congress, New York Delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Mayor, Albany, NY, Chief Justice, New York State Supreme Court, Statement, New York State Constitutional Ratification, June 17, 1788
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Jefferson and many others thought the original drafting of the Constitution was deficient in not explicitly protecting rights from the government. See {586024}. When it came time for ratification, it was clear that ratification would not take place unless that was remedied and the Bill of Rights made the ratification possible by satisfying many critics of whom Jefferson was but one. Note that the protection sought was from the President and the Congress.
At the time most of the members of Congress were worried about the “General Government”—their term for the Federal Government---than they were, the state governments from which they had come and were in their minds represented. If would be almost a century before it was generally accepted that the States themselves must follow the Constitution and its amendments. Madison was way ahead of his time, and saw that rights must be protected from all levels of government.
