Mason had other objections to the Constitution. He disliked the commerce power, the treaty-making provisions, the continuation of the African slave trade for at least twenty years, and the power of the president to grant pardons especially "to those whom he had secretly instigated to commit" crimes and "thereby prevent a discovery of his own guilt." These complaints about the Constitution were magnified by the lack of a Bill of Rights. Mason feared that the Senate and the President would combine "to accomplish what usurpations they pleased upon the rights and liberties of the people," while the federal judiciary would absorb and destroy the judiciaries of the several states."
Paul Finkelman: James Madison and the Bill of Rights: A Reluctant Paternity
Professor Finkelman wrote that a long time before Trump-McConnell came to power, anyone who read it must have it come to mind at least several times a week, now.
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