Popular Representation Quotes

How necessary for modern liberty a national representative government is—a representative system comprehending the whole state

When our Founders created this great experiment in self-governance, the House of Representatives became, by design, the body closest to the people. We are the most accountable, and we must be the most transparent.

[The Senate's role was:] to correct the prejudices, check the intemperate passions, and regulate the functions of a popular assembly [The House of Representatives.]

Being 'at the mercy of legislative majorities' is merely another way of describing the basic American plan: representative democracy.

State Legislatures were better qualified to elect the Members than the people were

The representative assembly (House of Representatives) ... should be in miniature an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them

Upon you, fellow-citizens, as the representatives of the States and the people, is wisely devolved the legislative power.

The virtue, spirit, and essence of a House of Commons consists in its being the express image of the feelings of the nation. It was not instituted to be a control upon the people, as of late it has been taught

The government of the Union, then, ... is, emphatically, and truly, a government of the people. In form and in substance it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit.

Whereas the constitution of … Holland is in its principles a popular representation, it is necessary that the right of the people be duly ascertained; that the members of the States be rendered responsible to them for their conduct and be precluded from taking any decisive step without their consent …

A Popular Assembly without a Senate cannot be wise. A Senate without a Popular Assembly will not be honest.