the desired result. They appealed with telling effect to the dread of
European aggression. This induced many who had little sympathy with the
proposed plan of government, to acquiesce in its adoption, believing
that some sort of a strong government was necessary for purposes of
defence. It was also boldly charged that money was employed to overcome
opposition where other means of persuasion failed.[41]

Our natural inclination is to disbelieve anything that reflects on the
political methods employed by the founders of our government.
Nevertheless, the widespread belief that the politicians and public men
of that time were less corrupt than those of to-day is, as Professor
McMaster says, a pure delusion. "A very little study of long-forgotten
politics will suffice to show that in filibustering and gerrymandering,
in stealing governorships and legislatures, in using force at the polls,
in colonizing and in distributing patronage to whom patronage is due, in
all the frauds and tricks that go to make up the worst form of practical
politics, the men who founded our state and national governments were
always our equals, and often our masters."[42] Of one thing we may be
reasonably certain--the Constitution as adopted did not represent the
political views of a majority of the American people--probably not even
a majority of those entitled to vote. Universal suffrage, we must
remember, did not then exist, and both property and religious
qualifications limited the right to hold public office. This of itself
is evidence that those who then controlled politics did not believe in
the right of the majority to rule. And when we take account of the
further fact that this was a time of political reaction, when the
government of the country was largely in the hands of those who despised
or feared democracy, we can easily see that the natural effects of a
restricted suffrage may have been intensified by those methods of
"practical politics" which not infrequently defeat the will of the
majority even to-day under universal suffrage. That it was the intention
of the framers of the Constitution to bring about, if possible, the
adoption of a form of government of which the majority of the people did
not approve, is clearly established by the record of their proceedings.
Hamilton, referring to the plan of government which he had proposed,
said: "I confess that this plan, and that from Virginia [the one
submitted by Randolph and of which the C