“I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!” The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after[wards] for the prerogatives of government” — Abigail Adams, second First Lady of the U.S. in a letter to husband John Adams (27 November 1775).