“What! then the blacks possess the right of voting in this county?”
“Without the smallest doubt.”
“How comes it, then, that at the polling-booth this morning I did not perceive a single negro in the whole meeting?”
“This is not the fault of the law: the negroes have an undisputed right of voting, but they voluntarily abstain from making their appearance.”
“A very pretty piece of modesty on their parts!” rejoined I.
“Why, the truth is, that they are not disinclined to vote, but they are afraid of being maltreated; in this country the law is sometimes unable to maintain its authority without the support of the majority. But in this case the majority entertains very strong prejudices against the blacks, and the magistrates are unable to protect them in the exercise of their legal privileges.”
“What! then the majority claims the right not only of making the laws, but of breaking the laws it has made?”]
If, on the other hand, a legislative power could be so constituted as to represent the majority without necessarily being the slave of its passions; an executive, so as to retain a certain degree of uncontrolled authority; and a judiciary, so as to remain independent of the two other powers; a government would be formed which would still be democratic without incurring any risk of tyrannical abuse.
I do not say that tyrannical abuses frequently occur in America at the present day, but I maintain that no sure barrier is established against them, and that the causes which mitigate the government are to be found in the circumstances and the manners of the country more than in its laws.
Effects Of The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Upon The Arbitrary Authority Of The American Public Officers