475. ARISTOCRACY, Reverence for.—
From what I have seen of Massachusetts and Connecticut myself, and still more from what
I have heard, and the character given of the
former by yourself, who know them so
much better, there seems to be in those two
States a traditionary reverence for certain
families, which has rendered the offices of the
government nearly hereditary in those families.
I presume that from an early period of
your history, members of those families happening
to possess virtue and talents, have
honestly exercised them for the good of the
people, and by their services have endeared
their names to them. In coupling Connecticut
with you, I mean it politically only, not
morally. For having made the Bible the common
law of their land, they seem to have
modeled their morality on the story of Jacob
and Laban. But although this hereditary succession
to office with you, may, in some degree,
be founded in real family merit, yet in
a much higher degree, it has proceeded from
your strict alliance of Church and State.
Those families are canonized in the eyes of
the people on common principles, “you tickle
me, and I will tickle you.”—
To John Adams. Washington ed. vi, 224.
Ford ed., ix, 426.
(M.
1813)
