If We Do Not Sow The Seeds

From The Five Thousand Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen, 30th Anniversary Edition, with Forward by Glenn Beck, American Documents Publishing, LLC, Franklin, TN. Part 1; The Founders Monumental Tasks, page 19.



Franklin noted that "there is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government." He said it gives people the illusion that somehow a king will establish "equality among citizens; and that they like." Franklin's great fear was that the states would succumb to this gravitational pull toward a strong central government symbolized by a royal establishment. He said: "I am apprehensive, therefore -- perhaps too apprehensive -- that the Government of these States may in future times end in a monarchy. But this catastrophe, I think, may be long delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow the seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making our posts of honor places of profit." (Albert Henry Smyth, ed., The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, 10 vols., The Macmillan Company, New York, 1705-1907, 9:593; modern spelling.)



Take note of the last part of that sentence: If in our proposed system we DO NOT SOW the seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, BY MAKING OUR POSTS OF HONOR PLACES OF PROFIT. Emphasis mine.