Elite distrust of ordinary citizens shaped America’s representative form of governance.

Evidence

But others, most notably James Madison, criticized this form of participatory politics, arguing that a representative form of governance was preferable even at the local level because the common working man was not fit to rule; he would not be able or interested in participating in such a process as Jefferson outlined. Only “the best men in the country” (Federalist Papers, 3, 95) should be trusted with such a process. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 353

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the Federalist-vs-Jefferson split that this chapter will revisit; useful history grounding for eco-justice pedagogy’s critique of centralized authority. — connects to: Those deemed most virtuous in early US politics were also the largest landowners. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 359; Enlightenment liberal democracy defines freedom negatively as freedom from interference. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 358; American distrust of judges and juries drove the explosive complexity of evidence law. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 837