University of Virginia Library

3591. GOVERNMENTS (American), Virtuous.—

I think our governments will remain
virtuous for many centuries; as long as
* * *[the people] are chiefly agricultural,
and this will be as long as there shall be
vacant lands in any part of America. When
they get pited upon one another in large
cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt
as in Europe. [225]
To James Madison. Washington ed. ii, 332. Ford ed., iv, 479.
(P. 1787)

 
[225]

The text of the Congress edition is: “When we
get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe,
we shall become corrupt as in Europe, and go
to eating one another as they do there.”—Editor.