The proposed system is now in your hands, and with it the fate of your country. We have a common interest for we are embarked in the same vessel. At present she is in a sea of trouble, without sails, oars, or pilot; ready to be dashed to pieces by every flaw of wind. You may secure a port, unless you think it better to remain at sea. If there is any man among you that wishes for troubled times and fluctuating measures, that he may live by speculations, and thrive by the calamities of the state, this government is not for him.
If there is any man who envies the prosperity of a native citizen—who wishes that we should remain without native merchants or seamen, without shipping, without manufactures, without commerce—poor and contemptible, the tributaries of a sovereign country—this government is not for him.
And if there is any man who has never been reconciled to our independence, who wishes to see us degraded and insulted abroad, oppressed by anarchy at home, and torn into pieces by factions—incapable of resistance, and ready to become a prey to the first invader—this government is not for him.
But it is a government, unless I am greatly mistaken, that gives the fairest promise of being firm and honourable; safe from foreign invasion or domestic sedition—a government by which our commerce must be protected and enlarged; the value of our produce and of our lands must be increased; the labourer and the mechanic must be encouraged and supported. It is a form of government that is perfectly fitted for protecting liberty and property, and for cherishing the good citizen and honest man.
Letter Of A Steady And Open Republican, Written By Charles Pinckney.
Printed In
The State Gazette Of South Carolina,
May, 1788.