John Adams to Patrick Henry
Philadelphia, June 3, 1776
My Dear Sir,
...The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the
nabobs, call them by what names you please, sigh and groan and fret, and
sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone
forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed
in other parts of the earth must be established in America. The exuberance
of pride which has produced an insolent domination in a few, a very few,
opulent, monopolizing families, will be brought down nearer to the confines
of reason and moderation than they have been used to. This is all the
evil which they themselves will endure. It will do them good in this world,
and in every other. For pride was not made for man, only as a tormentor.
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George Washington to Joseph Reed
December 12, 1778
It gives me sincere pleasure to find that
there is likely to be a coalition of the
Whigs in your State, a few only excepted,
and that the assembly is so well disposed
to second your endeavors in bringing those
murderers of our cause, the monopolizers,
forestallers, and engrossers, to condign
punishment. It is much to be lamented that
each State, long ere this, has not hunted
them down as pests to society and the greatest
enemies we have to the happiness of America.
I would to God that some one of the most
atrocious in each State was hung in gibbets
upon a gallows five times as high as the one
prepared by Haman. No punishment, in my opinion,
is too great for the man who can build his
greatness upon his country's ruin.
-----------------------
Alexander Hamilton to John Holt
October 19, 1778
Sir,
While every method is taken to bring to justice
those men whose principles and practices have
been hostile to the present revolution, it is
to be lamented that the conduct of another class,
equally crimininal, and, if possible, more
mischievous, has hitherto passed with impunity,
and almost without notice. I mean that tribe,
who taking advantage of the times, have carried
the spirit of monopoly and extortion to an excess
which scarcely admits of a parallel. Emboldened
by the success of progressive impositions, it
has extended to all the necessities of life.
The exorbitant price of every article, and the
depreciation upon our currency, are evils derived
essentially from this source. When avarice takes
the lead in a state, it is commonly the forerunner
of its fall. How shocking it is to discover among
ourselves, even at this early period, the strongest
symptoms of this fatal disease!...
When a man appointed to be the guardian of the state
and the depositary of the happiness and morals of
the people, forgetful of the solemn relation in
which he stands, descends to the dishonest articles
of a mercantile projector and sacrifices his conscience
and his trust to pecuniary motives, there is no
strain of abhorrence of which the human mind is
capable, no punishment the vengeance of the people
can inflict, which may not be applied to him with
justice. If it should have happened that a member
of Congress had been this degenerate character, and
has been known to turn the knowledge of secrets to
which his office gave him access to the purpose of
private profit, by employing emissaries to engross
an article of immediate necessity to the public
service, he ought to feel the utmost rigor of public
resentment and be detested as a traitor of the worst
and most dangerous kind.
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