, sense of justice and spirit of fair play, or we must
accept the view that the ultimate authority is in the hands of the few.
Every scheme under which the power of the majority is limited means in
its practical operation the subordination of the majority to the
minority. This inevitable consequence of the limitation of popular rule
is not alluded to by the advocates of checks and balances, though it is
obvious to any careful student of the system.

It would, however, do injustice to the intelligence of those who
champion the scheme of checks and balances to give them credit for any
real sympathy with the aims and purposes of democracy. Individual
liberty as guaranteed by majority rule was not the end which the framers
of the Constitution had in view, nor is it the reason why the
present-day conservative defends their work. The Constitution as
originally adopted did not contain that highly prized guarantee of
personal liberty which democracy everywhere insists upon. The failure to
make any provision for freedom of the press should be regarded as a
significant omission. This, however, was not an essential part of the
Federalists' scheme of government, which aimed rather to protect the
property and privileges of the few than to guarantee personal liberty to
the masses. This omission is the more noteworthy in view of the fact
that this guarantee was at that time expressly included in a majority of
the state constitutions, and that the temper of the people was such as
to compel its speedy adoption as an amendment to the Federal
Constitution itself.

Liberty, as the framers of the Constitution understood the term, had to
do primarily with property and property rights. The chief danger which
they saw in the Revolutionary state governments was the opportunity
afforded to the majority to legislate upon matters which the well-to-do
classes wished to place beyond the reach of popular interference. The
unlimited authority which the state government had over taxation and its
power to restrict or abridge property rights were viewed with alarm by
the wealthy classes, who felt that any considerable measure of democracy
would be likely to deprive them of their time-honored prerogatives. To
guard against this danger the Constitution sought, in the interest of
the classes which dominated the Federal Convention, to give the widest
possible scope to private property. It prohibited private property in
nothing--permitting it, as originally