Republics require enlightened citizenry
5/31 Mr. SHERMAN opposed the election [of the national legislature] by the people, insisting that it ought to be
by the State Legislatures. The people, he said, immediately, should have as little to do as may be about the
government. They want [lack] information, and are constantly liable to be misled.
Mr. GERRY: The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want [lack] virtue,
but are the dupes of pretended patriots. In Massachusetts it had been fully confirmed by experience, that they
are daily misled into the most baneful measures and opinions, by the false reports circulated by designing men,
and which no one on the spot can refute.