October 5, 2025
Every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add…artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society—the farmers, mechanics, and labourers—who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favours to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.
Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), American general and president, Veto of the Bank Bill, 10 July 1832, Jay p.189
Nice thought from the first part of the nineteenth century. But what about the women? What about the children? What about the Indians? What about the slaves?
This is the eternal struggle in any democracy. First of all, its laws don’t protect all equally—as noted above. But those it does protect are free to pursue their goals. Some are more successful than others, creating inequality. Then the more successful seek to use their position to secure even further success, arguing that success entitles them to greater control over the res publica (i.e., public affairs taken as a whole—the government). The interests of those who wind up better placed in a society that promises equality, on whatever basis, then clash with the interests of the worst placed in that same society.
