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will have least sympathy with the mass of the people, and be most likely to aim at an ambitious sacrifice of the many to the aggradizement of the few," p. 355. This objection, which the writer styles "perhaps the most extraordinary" of "all the objections which have been framed against the federal Constitution," was prominently in Madison's mind at this time (Feb. 19). A fortnight earlier he sent Washington a copy of a letter from Rufus King, which announced that " distrust of men of property or education " was having a more powerful influence in Massachusetts " than any specific objections against the Constitution." I, 372. No. 57 goes over ground covered in part by No. 52 (Feb. 8), and it may be conjectured that the evident strength of this objection invited a special essay, and the argument at first adheres rather closely to the form of the objection as it appears in Madison's letter of the same date to Jefferson on the nature of the opposition in Massachusetts.
Number 57.
" Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich more than the poor; not the learned more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropi- tious fortune " (p. 356) ; and again, " Who are to be the ob- jects of popular choice? Every citizen whose merit may recom- mend him to the esteem and confidence of his country. No qualification of wealth, of birth, of religious faith or of civil profession is permitted to fetter the judgment or disap-
Madison.
The opposition in Massachu- setts was made up "partly of ignorant and jealous men who had been taught, or had fan- cied that the Convention at Philadelphia had entered into a conspiracy against the liber- ties of the people at large, in order to erect an aristocracy for the rich, the well horn, and the men of education." Writ- ings, I, 377. (Letter to Jeffer- son, Feb. 19.)
