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→Democracy: Viewed the Federalist Papers as outdated
Wilson believed that the citizen must “marry his interests to the state.” Wilson, therefore, dismissed the Declaration’s assertion that rights are endowed by our Creator. Wilson lectured that, “If you want to understand the real Declaration of Independence, do not repeat the preface.” “The rhetorical introduction,” he declared, “is the least part of it.”
Wilson believed that the citizen must “marry his interests to the state.” Wilson, therefore, dismissed the Declaration’s assertion that rights are endowed by our Creator. Wilson lectured that, “If you want to understand the real Declaration of Independence, do not repeat the preface.” “The rhetorical introduction,” he declared, “is the least part of it.”
Wilson also rejected the premise described in the [[Federalist Papers]], that checks and balances are needed because human nature is flawed and does not improve.
Wilson also rejected the premise described in the [[Federalist Papers]], that checks and balances are needed because human nature is flawed and does not improve. He viewed the entire premise as outdated and a relic of a prior age, noting that "though they were written to influence only the voters of 1788, still, with a strange, persistent longevity of power, shape the constitutional criticism of the present day, obscuring much of that development of constitutional practice which has since taken place."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=r5IYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA9 Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics], p. 9</ref>
Political philosopher Ronald Pestritto has observed that for Wilson, “the separation of powers, and all other institutional remedies that the founders employed against the danger of faction stood in the way of government’s exercising its powers in accord with the dictates of progress.”
Political philosopher Ronald Pestritto has observed that for Wilson, “the separation of powers, and all other institutional remedies that the founders employed against the danger of faction stood in the way of government’s exercising its powers in accord with the dictates of progress.”