We have to decide whether people are capable of governing themselves. If they aren’t, it is foolish (and dangerous) to ask them to try. It is tempting to suppose that Hamilton’s question has been settled. America has endured for 230+ years under the Constitution. But we should avoid this dodge. Asking “whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government “ is a question we face every day, and a question that can never really be settled.