“Constitutional statutes … which embody the settled public opinion of the people who enacted them and whom they are to govern — can always be enforced. But if they embody only the sentiments of a bare majority, pronounced under the influence of a temporary excitement, they will, if strenuously opposed, always fail of their object; nay, they are likely to injure the cause they are framed to advance.”

—  Rutherford B. Hayes

Diary (17 February 1882)
Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1922 - 1926)

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American politician, 19th President of the United States (i… 1822–1893

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