Title
[Document, 1807 April 18]
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Name
Jay, John, 1745-1829 (Author)
Beers, William Pitt, 1766-1810 (Addressee)
Format
correspondence
Digital Project
Papers of John Jay
Date
April 18, 1807
Language
English
Physical Description
2 pages
Subjects
United States--History--Constitutional period, 1789-1809; Jay, John, 1745-1829
Summary
Acknowledges receipt of the letter sent by Mr. Isaacs. It is natural that Beers should feel as he does. "The vices and violences of Parties, and the Corruptions which they generate and cherish, are serious Evils, but they are Evils which during the full Tide of Democracy, mere Reason will find it difficult to correct, because the majority of every People are deficient both in Virtue and in Knowledge." Reforms "are more frequently imposed by overbearing Circumstances, than produced by the Influence of Wisdom on the opinion and Choice of the Multitude." At the present democracy "prevails too much. The Time may come when it will prevail too little." One candidate should have been proposed by the Federal party or the party also should have adopted "an unequivocal plain line of Conduct relative to the present Candidates, explicitly deciding to vote for neither of them, or openly Resolving to support the one whom they considered as the least objectionable."
Identifier
columbia.jay.12578