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Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

Approximate author period: c. 1775 AD · early modern

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Alexander Hamilton
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1775 AD · early modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Alexander Hamilton: documented activity in 1775. Wikidata Q178903, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q178903 (accessed 2026-10-08).
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Contributor-provided quotation collection

Supplied reference C; CSV row 262141; supplied attribution, independently unverified

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.