“If our Government is not a representative government it is nothing”
Speech in the House of Representatives https://web.archive.org/web/20180731162554/https://cdn.loc.gov/service/rbc/lcrbmrp/t2609/t2609.pdf (4 April 1904)
Context: I would like to ask what were the causes which led up to the Declaration of Independence; what it was that our forefathers fought for during 1776? Let me suggest that the initial cause for which we fought was that there should be “no taxation without representation,” and there can be no representation without the right to exercise the franchise. Direct representation of those governed in the governing body is the keystone of our democratic institutions. If our Government is not a representative government it is nothing.
