The magistrate is properly the trustee of the people: He can have no just power but what he receives from them. To them he ought to be accountable for the use he makes of this power. But if a man may be invested with the power of government, which is the united power of the community, without their consent, how can they call him to account; what check can they have upon him; or what security for the enjoyment of anything which he may see fit to deprive them of? They must in this case be slaves: But as every people have a right to be free, they must have a right of choosing their own rulers and appointing such as they think most proper; because this right is so essential to liberty, that the moment a people are deprived of it, they cease to be free.
Simeon Howard — A Sermon Preached before the Honorable Council… of Massachusetts-Bay (Election Sermon, 1780)
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