Historical Documents
Instructions: On the
day of the exam, you will be given 2 of the following historical documents. Some we have studied in class and some are
new. For each of these documents, you
will need to be able to do the following.
1. Identify the author and explain his/her
significance.
2. Explain the historical context of the
document. (What events and ideas preceded it? How is it connected to broader
historical developments? Which dates did we learn in class that are associated
with it?)
3. Summarize the main points of the document.
4. Examine the influence of the author’s bias
and previous assumptions in the document.
5. Identify and discuss key concepts introduced
in the document.
6. Show how specific word choice in the
document is critical to its message.
7. Explain the historical legacy of the author
and or document.
The Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith)
To
take an example, therefore, from a very trifling manufacture; but one in which
the division of labor has been very often taken notice of, the trade of the
pin-maker; a workman not educated to this business (which the division of labor
has rendered a distinct trade), nor acquainted with the use of the machinery
employed in it (to the invention of which the same division of labor has
probably given occasion), could scarce, perhaps, with his utmost industry, make
one pin in a day, and certainly could not make twenty. But in the way in which
this business is now carried on, not only the whole work is a peculiar trade,
but it is divided into a number of branches, of which the greater part are
likewise peculiar trades. One man draws out the wire, another straights it, a
third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving
the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it
on, is a peculiar business, to whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade
by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a
pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations, which,
in some manufactories, are all performed by distinct hands, though in others
the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them. I have seen a small
manufactory of this kind where ten men only were employed, and where some of
them consequently performed two or three distinct operations. But though they
were very poor, and therefore but indifferently accommodated with the necessary
machinery, they could, when they exerted themselves, make among them about
twelve pounds of pins in a day. There are in a pound upwards of four thousand
pins of a middling size. Those ten persons, therefore, could make among them
upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in a day. Each person, therefore, making a
tenth part of forty-eight thousand pins, might be considered as making four
thousand eight hundred pins in a day. But if they had all wrought separately
and independently, and without any of them having been educated to this
peculiar business, they certainly could not each of them have made twenty,
perhaps not one pin in a day; that is, certainly, not the two hundred and
fortieth, perhaps not the four thousand eight hundredth part of what they are
at present capable of performing, in consequence of a proper division and
combination of their different operations.
This great increase of the quantity of work which, in
consequence of the division of labor, the same number of people are capable of
performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first to the increase of
dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time
which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and
lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge
labor, and enable one man to do the work of many.
This division of labor, from which so many advantages are
derived, is not originally the effect of any human wisdom, which foresees and
intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is the necessary,
though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain propensity in human
nature which has in view no such extensive utility; the propensity to truck,
barter, and exchange one thing for another.
Whether this propensity be one of those original principles
in human nature, of which no further account can be given; or whether, as seems
more probable, it be the necessary consequence of the faculties of reason and
speech, it belongs not to our present subject to enquire. It is common to all men,
and to be found in no other race of animals, which seem to know neither this
nor any other species of contracts. Two greyhounds, in running down the same
hare, have sometimes the appearance of acting in some sort of concert. Each
turns her towards his companion, or endeavors to intercept her when his
companion turns her towards himself. This, however, is not the effect of any
contract, but of the accidental concurrence of their passions in the same
object at that particular time. Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and
deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog. Nobody ever saw
one animal by its gestures and natural cries signify to another, this is mine,
that yours; I am willing to give this for that. When an animal wants to obtain
something either of a man or of another animal, it has no other means of
persuasion but to gain the favor of those whose service it requires. A puppy
fawns upon its dam, and a spaniel endeavors by a thousand attractions to engage
the attention of its master who is at dinner, when it wants to be fed by him.
Man sometimes uses the same arts with his brethren, and when he has no other
means of engaging them to act according to his inclinations, endeavors by every
servile and fawning attention to obtain their good will. He has not time,
however, to do this upon every occasion. In civilized society he stands at all
times in need of the cooperation and assistance of great multitudes, while his
whole life is scarce sufficient to gain the friendship of a few persons. In almost
every other race of animals each individual, when it is grown up to maturity,
is entirely independent, and in its natural state has occasion for the
assistance of no other living creature. But man has almost constant occasion
for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their
benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their
self-love in his favor, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do
for him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to another a bargain of any
kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall have this
which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner
that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices
which we stand in need of. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the
brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their
own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their
self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their
advantages.
Nobody but a
beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.
Even a beggar does not depend upon it entirely. The charity of well-disposed
people, indeed, supplies him with the whole fund of his subsistence. But though
this principle ultimately provides him with all the necessaries of life which
he has occasion for, it neither does nor can provide him with them as he has
occasion for them. The greater part of his occasional wants are supplied in the
same manner as those of other people, by treaty, by barter, and by purchase.
With the money which one man gives him he purchases food. The old clothes which
another bestows upon him he exchanges for other old clothes which suit him
better, or for lodging, or for food, or for money, with which he can buy either
food, clothes, or lodging, as he has occasion.
Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out
the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his
own advantage, indeed, and not that of the society, which he has in view. But
the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily, leads him to
prefer that employment which is most advantageous to the society.
The Prince (Niccolò Machiavelli)
Chapter 16 [Concerning Liberality
and Meanness]
Commencing
then with the first of the above-named characteristics, I say that it would be
well to be reputed liberal. Nevertheless, liberality exercised in a way that
does not bring you the reputation for it, injures you; for if one exercises it
honestly and as it should be exercised, it may not become known, and you will
not avoid the reproach of its opposite. Therefore, any one wishing to maintain
among men the name of liberal is obliged to avoid no attribute of magnificence;
so that a prince thus inclined will consume in such acts all his property, and
will be compelled in the end, if he wish to maintain the name of liberal, to
unduly weigh down his people, and tax them, and do everything he can to get
money. This will soon make him odious to his subjects, and becoming poor he
will be little valued by any one; thus, with his liberality, having offended
many and rewarded few, he is affected by the very first trouble and imperilled
by whatever may be the first danger; recognizing this himself, and wishing to
draw back from it, he runs at once into the reproach of being miserly.
Therefore,
a prince, not being able to exercise this virtue of liberality in such a way
that it is recognized, except to his cost, if he is wise he ought not to fear
the reputation of being mean, for in time he will come to be more considered
than if liberal, seeing that with his economy his revenues are enough, that he
can defend himself against all attacks, and is able to engage in enterprises
without burdening his people; thus it comes to pass that he exercises
liberality towards all from whom he does not take, who are numberless, and
meanness towards those to whom he does not give, who are few. We have not seen
great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean;
the rest have failed. Pope Julius the Second was assisted in reaching the
papacy by a reputation for liberality, yet he did not strive afterwards to keep
it up, when he made war on the King of France; and he made many wars without
imposing any extraordinary tax on his subjects, for he supplied his additional
expenses out of his long thriftiness. The present King of Spain would not have
undertaken or conquered in so many enterprises if he had been reputed liberal.
A
prince, therefore, provided that he has not to rob his subjects, that he can
defend himself, that he does not become poor and abject, that he is not forced
to become rapacious, ought to hold of little account a reputation for being
mean, for it is one of those vices which will enable him to govern. And if any
one should say: Caesar obtained empire by liberality, and many others have
reached the highest positions by having been liberal, and by being considered
so, I answer: Either you are a prince in fact, or in a way to become one. In
the first case this liberality is dangerous, in the second it is very necessary
to be considered liberal; and Caesar was one of those who wished to become
pre-eminent in Rome; but if he had survived after becoming so, and had not
moderated his expenses, he would have destroyed his government. And if any one
should reply: Many have been princes, and have done great things with armies,
who have been considered very liberal, I reply: Either a prince spends that
which is his own or his subjects' or else that of others. In the first case he
ought to be sparing, in the second he ought not to neglect any opportunity for
liberality. And to the prince who goes forth with his army, supporting it by
pillage, sack, and extortion, handling that which belongs to others, this liberality
is necessary, otherwise he would not be followed by soldiers. And of that which
is neither yours nor your subjects' you can be a ready giver, as were Cyrus,
Caesar, and Alexander; because it does not take away your reputation if you
squander that of others, but adds to it; it is only squandering your own that
injures you.
And
there is nothing wastes so rapidly as liberality, for even whilst you exercise
it you lose the power to do so, and so become either poor or despised, or else,
in avoiding poverty, rapacious and hated. And a prince should guard himself,
above all things, against being despised and hated; and liberality leads you to
both. Therefore it is wiser to have a reputation for meanness which brings
reproach without hatred, than to be compelled through seeking a reputation for
liberality to incur a name for rapacity which begets reproach with hatred.
Explanation
of the Ninety-five Theses
(Martin Luther)
The revenues of all Christendom are being sucked into this
insatiable basilica. The Germans laugh at calling this the common treasure of
Christendom. Before long, all the churches, palaces, walls and bridges of Rome
will be built out of our money. First of all, we should rear living temples,
not local churches, and only last of all St. Peter's, which is not necessary
for us. We Germans cannot attend St. Peter's. Better that it should never be
built than that our parochial churches should be despoiled. ...
Why doesn't the pope build the basilica of St. Peter's out of his own money? He
is richer than Croesus. He would do better to sell St. Peter's an give the
money to the poor folk who are being fleeced by the hawkers of indulgences.
---
Papal indulgences do not remove guilt. Beware of those who say that indulgences
effect reconciliation with God. ... He who is contrite has plenary remission of
guilt and penalty without indulgences. The pope can only remove those penalties
which he himself has imposed on earth, for Christ did not say, "Whatsoever
I have bound in heaven you may loose on earth."
Therefore I claim that the pope has no jurisdiction over Purgatory. ... If the
pope does have power to release anyone from Purgatory, why in the name of love
does he not abolish Purgatory by letting everyone out? If for the sake of
miserable money he released uncounted souls, why should he not for the sake of
most holy love empty the place? To say that souls are liberated from Purgatory
is audacious. To say they are released as soon as the coffer rings is to incite
avarice. The pope would do better to give everything away without charge.
---
Indulgences are positively harmful to the recipient because
they impede salvation by diverting charity and inducing a false sense of
security. Christians should be taught that he who gives to the poor is better
than he who receives a pardon. He who spends money on indulgences instead of
relieving want receives not the indulgence of the pope but the indignation of
God. ...
Indulgences are most pernicious because they induce complacency and thereby
imperil salvation. Those persons are damned who think that letters of
indulgence make them certain of salvation. God works by contraries so that a
man feels himself to be lost in the very moment when he is on the point of
being saved. ...Man must first cry out that there is no health in him. He must
be consumed with horror. This is the pain of Purgatory. ...
In this disturbance salvation begins. When man believes himself to be utterly
lost, light breaks. Peace comes in the word of Christ through faith. He who
does not have this is lost even though he be absolved a million times by the
pope, and he who does have it may not wish to be released from Purgatory, for
true contrition seeks penalty. Christians should be encouraged to bear the
cross.
Letter Concerning the First
Voyage
(Christopher Columbus)
Sir,
As I know that you will have pleasure of the great victory
which our Lord hath given me in my voyage, I write you this, by which you shall
know that in [thirty-three] days I passed over the Indies with the fleet which
the most illustrious King and Queen, our Lords, gave me: where I found very
many islands peopled with inhabitants beyond number. And, of them all, I have
taken possession for their Highnesses, with proclamation and the royal standard
displayed; and I was not gainsaid. On the first which I found, I put the name
Sant Salvador, in commemoration of His High Majesty, who marvelously hath given
all this: the Indians call it [Guanhani]. The second I named the Island of
Santa MarÃa de Concepción, the third Ferrandina, the fourth Fair Island, the
fifth La Isla Juana; and so for each one a new name. When I reached Juana, I
followed its coast westwardly, and found it so large that I thought it might be
the mainland province of Cathay. And as I did not thus find any towns and
villages on the seacoast, save small hamlets with the people whereof I could
not get speech, because they all fled away forthwith, I went on further in the
same direction, thinking I should not miss of great cities or towns. And at the
end of many leagues, seeing that there was no change, . . . [I]
turned back as far as a port agreed upon; from which I sent two men into the
country to learn if there were a king, or any great cities. They traveled for
three days, and found interminable small villages and a numberless population,
but nought of ruling authority; wherefore they returned.
I understood sufficiently from other Indians . . . that
this land, . . . was an island; and so I followed its coast
eastwardly for a hundred and seven leagues as far as where it terminated; from
which headland I saw another island to the east [eighteen] leagues distant from
this, to which I at once gave the name La Spanola. And I proceeded thither, and
followed the northern coast, as with La Juana, eastwardly for a hundred and
[eighty-eight] great leagues in a direct easterly course, as with La Juana.
The which, and all the others, are more [fertile] to an
excessive degree, and this extremely so. In it, there are many havens on the
seacoast, incomparable with any others that I know in Christendom, and plenty
of rivers so good and great that it is a marvel. The lands thereof are high,
and in it are very many ranges of hills, and most lofty mountains incomparably
beyond the Island of [Tenerife]; all most beautiful in a thousand shapes, and
all accessible, and full of trees of a thousand kinds, so lofty that they seem
to reach the sky. And I am assured that they never lose their foliage; as may
be imagined, since I saw them as green and as beautiful as they are in Spain
during May. . . .
And the nightingale was singing, and other birds of a
thousand sorts, in the month of November, round about the way I was going.
There are palm trees of six or eight species, wondrous to see for their
beautiful variety; but so are the other trees, and fruits, and plants therein.
There are wonderful pine groves, and very large plains of verdure, and there is
honey, and many kinds of birds, and many various fruits. In the earth there are
many mines of metals; and there is a population of incalculable number. Spanola
is a marvel; the mountains and hills, and plains, and fields, and land, so
beautiful and rich for planting and sowing, for breeding cattle of all sorts,
for building of towns and villages.
There could be no believing, without seeing, such harbors as
are here, as well as the many and great rivers, and excellent waters, most of
which contain gold. In the trees and fruits and plants, there are great
differences from those of Juana. In [La Spanola], there are many spiceries, and
great mines of gold and other metals.
The people of this island, and of all the others that I have
found and seen, or not seen, all go naked, men and women, just as their mothers
bring them forth; although some women cover a single place with the leaf of a
plant, or a cotton something which they make for that purpose. They have no
iron or steel, nor any weapons; nor are they fit thereunto; not be because they
be not a well-formed people and of fair stature, but that they are most
wondrously timorous. They have no other weapons than the stems of reeds in
their seeding state, on the end of which they fix little sharpened stakes. Even
these, they dare not use; for many times has it happened that I sent two or
three men ashore to some village to parley, and countless numbers of them
sallied forth, but as soon as they saw those approach, they fled away in such
wise that even a father would not wait for his son. And this was not because
any hurt had ever done to any of them:-but such they are, incurably timid. It
is true that since they have become more assured, and are losing that terror,
they are artless and generous with what they have, to such a degree as no one
would believe but him who had seen it. Of anything they have, if it be asked
for, they never say no, but do rather invite the person to accept it, and show
as much lovingness as though they would give their hearts. And whether it be a
thing of value, or one of little worth, they are straightways content with
whatsoever trifle of whatsoever kind may be given them in return for it. I
forbade that anything so worthless as fragments of broken platters, and pieces
of broken glass, and strapbuckles, should be given them; although when they
were able to get such things, they seemed to think they had the best jewel in
the world. . . .
And they knew no sect, nor idolatry; save that they all
believe that power and goodness are in the sky, and they believed very firmly
that I, with these ships and crew, came from the sky; and in such opinion, they
received me at every place were I landed, after they had lost their terror. And
this comes not because they are ignorant; on the contrary, they are men of very
subtle wit, who navigate all those seas, and who give a marvellously good
account of everything-but because they never saw men wearing clothes nor the
like of our ships. And as soon as I arrived in the Indies, in the first island
that I found, I took some of them by force to the intent that they should learn
[our speech] and give me information of what there was in those parts. And so
it was, that very soon they understood [us] and we them, what by speech or what
by signs; and those [Indians] have been of much service
. . . with loud cries of "Come! come to see the people from
heaven!" Then, as soon as their minds were reassured about us, every one
came, men as well as women, so that there remained none behind, big or little;
and they all brought something to eat and drink, which they gave with wondrous
lovingness. . . .
It seems to me that in all those islands, the men are all
content with a single wife; and to their chief or king they give as many as
twenty. The women, it appears to me, do more work than the men. Nor have I been
able to learn whether they held personal property, for it seemed to me that
whatever one had, they all took share of, especially of eatable things. Down to
the present, I have not found in those islands any monstrous men, as many
expected, but on the contrary all the people are very comely; nor are they
black like those in Guinea, but have flowing hair; and they are not begotten
where there is an excessive violence of the rays of the
sun. . . . In those islands, where there are lofty mountains,
the cold was very keen there, this winter; but they endured it by being
accustomed thereto, and by the help of the meats which they eat with many and
inordinately hot spices. . . .
Since thus our Redeemer has given to our most illustrious
King and Queen, and to their famous kingdoms, this victory in so high a matter,
Christendom should take gladness therein and make great festivals, and give
solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity for the great exaltation they shall have by
the conversion of so many peoples to our holy faith; and next for the temporal
benefit which will bring hither refreshment and profit, not only to Spain, to
all Christians. This briefly, in accordance with the facts.
Second Treatise of Government
(John Locke)
To properly understand political power and trace its
origins, we must consider the state that all people are in naturally. That is a
state of perfect freedom of acting and disposing of their own possessions and
persons as they think fit within the bounds of the law of nature. People in
this state do not have to ask permission to act or depend on the will of others
to arrange matters on their behalf. The natural state is also one of equality
in which all power and jurisdiction is reciprocal and no one has more than
another. It is evident that all human beings – as creatures belonging to the
same species and rank and born indiscriminately with all the same natural
advantages and faculties – are equal amongst themselves. They have no
relationship of subordination or subjection unless God (the lord and master of
them all) had clearly set one person above another and conferred on him an
undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty.
IF man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said;
if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions, equal to the
greatest, and subject to no body, why will he part with his freedom? Why will
he give up this empire, and subject himself to the dominion and control of any
other power? To which it is obvious to answer, that though in the state of
nature he hath such a right, yet the enjoyment of it is very uncertain, and
constantly exposed to the invasion of others: for all being kings as much as
he, every man his equal, and the greater part no strict observers of equity and
justice, the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe,
very unsecure. This makes him willing to quit a condition, which, however free,
is full of fears and continual dangers: and it is not without reason, that he
seeks out, and is willing to join in society with others, who are already
united, or have a mind to unite, for the mutual preservation of their lives,
liberties and estates, which I call by the general name, property.
Man being born, as has been proved, with a title to perfect
freedom, and an uncontrouled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the
law of nature, equally with any other man, or number of men in the world, hath
by nature a power, not only to preserve his property, that is, his life,
liberty and estate, against the injuries and attempts of other men; but to
judge of, and punish the breaches of that law in others, as he is persuaded the
offence deserves, even with death itself, in crimes where the heinousness of
the fact, in his opinion, requires it. But because no political society can be,
nor subsist, without having in itself the power to preserve the property, and
in order thereunto, punish the offences of all those of that society; there,
and there only is political society, where every one of the members hath
quitted this natural power, resigned it up into the hands of the community in
all cases that exclude him not from appealing for protection to the law
established by it. And thus all private judgment of every particular member
being excluded, the community comes to be umpire, by settled standing rules,
indifferent, and the same to all parties; and by men having authority from the
community, for the execution of those rules, decides all the differences that
may happen between any members of that society concerning any matter of right;
and punishes those offences which any member hath committed against the
society, with such penalties as the law has established: whereby it is easy to
discern, who are, and who are not, in political society together. Those who are
united into one body, and have a common established law and judicature to
appeal to, with authority to decide controversies between them, and punish
offenders, are in civil society one with another: but those who have no such
common appeal, I mean on earth, are still in the state of nature, each being,
where there is no other, judge for himself, and executioner; which is, as I
have before shewed it, the perfect state of nature.
Where-ever therefore any number of men are so
united into one society, as to quit every one his executive power of the law of
nature, and to resign it to the public, there and there only is a political, or
civil society. And this is done, where-ever any number of men, in the state of
nature, enter into society to make one people, one body politic, under one
supreme government; or else when any one joins himself to, and incorporates
with any government already made: for hereby he authorizes the society, or
which is all one, the legislative thereof, to make laws for him, as the public
good of the society shall require; to the execution whereof, his own assistance
(as to his own decrees) is due. And this puts men out of a state of nature into
that of a common-wealth, by setting up a judge on earth, with authority to
determine all the controversies, and redress the injuries that may happen to
any member of the commonwealth; which judge is the legislative, or magistrates
appointed by it. And where-ever there are any number of men, however
associated, that have no such decisive power to appeal to, there they are still
in the state of nature.
Hence it is evident, that absolute monarchy,
which by some men is counted the only government in the world, is indeed
inconsistent with civil society, and so can be no form of civil-government at
all: for the end of civil society, being to avoid, and remedy those
inconveniencies of the state of nature, which necessarily follow from every
man's being judge in his own case, by setting up a known authority, to which
every one of that society may appeal upon any injury received, or controversy
that may arise, and which every one of the* society ought to obey; where-ever
any persons are, who have not such an authority to appeal to, for the decision
of any difference between them, there those persons are still in the state of
nature; and so is every absolute prince, in respect of those who are under his
dominion.
The Terror Justified (Maximilian
Robespierre)
It is time to mark clearly the aim of the Revolution
and the end toward which we wish to move; it is time to take stock of
ourselves, of the obstacles which we still face, and of the means which we
ought to adopt to attain our objectives....
What is the goal for which we strive? A peaceful enjoyment
of liberty and equality, the rule of that eternal justice whose laws are
engraved, not upon marble or stone, but in the hearts of all men.
We wish an order of things where all 1ow and cruel passions
are enchained by the laws, all beneficent and generous feelings aroused; wlhere
ambition is the desire to merit glory and to serve one's fatherland; where
distinctions are born only of equality itself; where the citizen is subject to
the magistrate, the magistrate to the people, the people to justice; where the
nation safeguards the welfare of each individual, and each individual proudly
enjoys the prosperity and glory of his fatherland; where all spirits are
enlarged by the constant exchange of republican sentiments and by the need of
earning the respect of a great people; where the arts are the adornment of
liberty, which ennobles them; and where commerce is the source of public
wealth, not simply of monstrous opulence for a few families.
In our country we wish to substitute morality for egotism,
probity for honor, principles for conventions, duties for etiquette, the empire
of reason for the tyranny of customs, contempt for vice for contempt for
misfortune, pride for insolence, the love of honor for the love of money . . .
that is to say, all the virtues and miracles of the Republic for all the vices
and snobbishness of the monarchy.
We wish in a word to fulfill the requirements of nature, to
accomplish the destiny of mankind, to make good the promises of philosophy . .
. that France, hitherto illustrious among slave states, may eclipse the glory
of all free peoples that have existed, become the model of all nations.... That
is our ambition; that is our aim.
What kind of government can realize these marvels? Only a
democratic government.... But to found and to consolidate among us this
democracy, to realize the peaceable rule of constitutional laws, it is
necessary to conclude the war of liberty against tyranny and to pass
successfully through the storms of revolution. Such is the aim of the
revolutionary system which you have set up....
Now what is the fundamental principle of democratic, or
popular government- that is to say, the essential mainspring upon which it
depends and which makes it function? It is virtue: I mean public virtue . .that
virtue is nothing else but love of fatherland and its laws....
The splendor of the goal of the French Revolution is
simultaneously the source of our strength and of our weakness: our strength,
because it gives us an ascendancy of truth over falsehood, and of public rights
over private interests; our weakness, because it rallies against us all vicious
men, all those who in their hearts seek to despoil the people.... It is
necessary to stifle the domestic and foreign enemies of the Republic or perish
with them. Now in these circumstances, the first maxim of our politics ought to
be to lead the people by means of reason and the enemies of the people by
terror.
If the basis of popular government in time of peace is
virtue, the basis of popular government in time of revolution is both virtue
and terror: virtue without which terror is murderous, terror without which
virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable
justice; it flows, then, from virtue.
