...dealing with it fell upon him nevertheless, and he got the blame whenever any one was not pleased. "We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation,'' he had written a little while before, and what he now began to experience was not likely to disabuse...

...my own. What the event will be, is also beyond the reach of my foresight. We have errors to correct; we have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated...

...constitutional objects.'51 This had been forgotten in the midst of the opposition to British government: We have, probably, had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt, and carry into execution, measures the best calculated...

...men's vices doomed early republican experiments to failure. He quotes George Washington to that effect: "We have, probably, had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation." 14 The enduring question confronting liberalism was whether men were redeemable. Many intellectuals...

...force was a necessary feature of the kind of government they had in mind. Stated George Washington, "We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our Confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures that are best calculated...

...accused of subverting republicanism. "We have probably," wrote Washington in a moment of disillusionment, "had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation." But no revised psychology was offered. The French minister to America reported a prevailing frustration:...

...of the national embarassments." Three months later, writing again to Jay, Washington lamented that "we have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation." America could not long exist as a nation unless an energetic government with adequate powers given...

...Jay about the veering legislative policies of the Articles of Confederation period, dryly observing, "We have, probably, had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation."10 James Madison, in Federalist LI, stated famously the case for mistrusting government...

...on human nature with profound political implications. George Washington spoke volumes when he noted, "We have, probably, had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation."34 Washington's remark, uttered in the wake of Shays' Rebellion, implied a modification...

...wrote Jefferson about Virginia, "is not the government we fought a revolution for." Added Washington, "we have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in the formation of our confederation." And more melodramatically, "to be fallen! So losti It is mortifying.""...