The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Constitutional Ratification Convention ratifies the Constitution for the united States (YEA, 46; NAY, 23), making it the second State to secede from the Confederation.  This brings to seven the number of States still necessary to put the Constitution into force.

       [restored 9/27/2021]

       Alexander Hamilton, a former Delegate, from New York, to the Constitutional Convention, using the penname “Publius,” publishes “Federalist #21,” arguing in paragraph ten that reliance upon indirect taxation (“a tax exacted indirectly from a person other than the one on whom the ultimate burden of the tax is expected to fall.” [Such as tariffs on imports, or excises] –– Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary Unabridged Dictionary) for federal revenue discourages excessive government consumption of private resources:

       It is a signal advantage of taxes on articles of consumption, that they contain in their own nature a security against excess.  They prescribe their own limit; which cannot be exceeded without defeating the end proposed, that is, an extension of the revenue.  When applied to this object, the saying is as just as it is witty, that, “in political arithmetic, two and two do not always make four.”  If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds.  This forms a complete barrier against any material oppression of the citizens by taxes of this class, and is itself a natural limitation of the power of imposing them.

       [restored 11/29/2024]