HISTOIiY PF VERiMONT. 39$ 



ernments of' America amidst every kind of diP- 

 ficulty, rose superior to all opposition ; firmly^ 

 established theniselves, in fifteen different states ; 

 and gave uncommon vigor and efjicacy to a 

 federal establishment, which was designed and 

 adapted to manage the public business of the 

 whole system. 



But whatever be the forrn or the .power pf 

 government, it cannot attain its greatest per- 

 fection, unless it contains within itself, the means 

 of its own improvement. The men of civiiizeij 

 countries, are making gradual and constant im- 

 provements in knowledge, in the sciences, and 

 in all the arts by which life is made more ^se^ 

 cure and happy. Hence, that form of govejria- 

 ment which was best suited to their state in one 

 stage of society, ceases to be so, in another : 

 And unless the government itself improves, with 

 the gradual improvement of society, it will lose 

 much of its respectability, and power ; become 

 unsuited to the state, and injurious to the peo- 

 ple. Despotism has always contemplated the 

 body of the people, as mere mob ; and has 

 aimed and operated to keep them in that situa* 

 tion. To governments founded in this princi- 

 ple, the improvement of mankind proves fatal 

 and destructive : And there is nothing, such 

 governments are more anxious to prevent, than 

 knowledge, property, and improvement, in the 

 body of the people. Built upon the rational and 

 social nature of man, the American government 

 expects to find its surest support, and greatest 

 duration, in the gradual improvement, in the 

 encreasing knowledge, virtue, and freedom, of 

 the human race. The present government of 



