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DISSERTATION ON FIRST-PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.
THERE is no subject in which mankind are more universally interested than in the subject of govern∣ment. His security, be he rich or poor, and, in a great measure, his prosperity is connected therewith; it is there∣fore his interest as well as his duty to make himself acquainted with its principles, and what the practice ought to be.
Every art and science, however imperfectly known at first, has been studied, improved, and brought to what we call perfection by the progressive labours of succeeding generations; but the science of government has stood still. No improvement has been made in the principle and scarcely any in the practice till the American revolution began. In all the countries of Europe (except in France) the same forms and systems that were erected in the remote