Will the oppressor let go the oppressed? Was there ever an instance? Can the annals of mankind exhibit one single example where rulers overcharged with power willingly let go the oppressed, though solicited and requested most earnestly? … Sometimes, the oppressed have got loose by one of those bloody struggles that desolate a country but a willing relinquishment of power is one of those things which human nature never was, nor ever will be, capable of.
Patrick Henry
in Jonathan Elliot, ed., ‘The Debates of the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution’, (New York, Burt Franklin: 1888 ), 3:51-52.