sons were built, and for the first time the
idea of reforming as well as of punishing the delinquent formed a part
of prison discipline. But this happy alteration, in which the public had
taken so hearty an interest, and which the exertions of the citizens had
irresistibly accelerated, could not be completed in a moment. Whilst the
new penitentiaries were being erected (and it was the pleasure of the
majority that they should be terminated with all possible celerity), the
old prisons existed, which still contained a great number of offenders.
These jails became more unwholesome and more corrupt in proportion as
the new establishments were beautified and improved, forming a contrast
which may readily be understood. The majority was so eagerly employed
in founding the new prisons that those which already existed were
forgotten; and as the general attention was diverted to a novel object,
the care which had hitherto been bestowed upon the others ceased. The
salutary regulations of discipline were first relaxed, and afterwards
broken; so that in the immediate neighborhood of a prison which bore
witness to the mild and enlightened spirit of our time, dungeons might
be met with which reminded the visitor of the barbarity of the Middle
Ages.

Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences--Part II

Tyranny Of The Majority

How the principle of the sovereignty of the people is to be
understood--Impossibility of conceiving a mixed government--The
sovereign power must centre somewhere--Precautions to be taken to
control its action--These precautions have not been taken in the United
States--Consequences.

I hold it to be an impious and an execrable maxim that, politically
speaking, a people has a right to do whatsoever it pleases, and yet I
have asserted that all authority originates in the will of the majority.
Am I then, in contradiction with myself?

A general law--which bears the name of Justice--has been made and
sanctioned, not only by a majority of this or that people, but by
a majority of mankind. The rights of every people are consequently
confined within the limits of what is just. A nation may be considered
in the light of a jury which is empowered to represent society at large,
and to apply the great and general law of justice. Ought such a jury,
which represents society, to have more power than the society in which
the laws it applies originate?

When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do n