Literary notes about constitution (AI summary)
In literature the term "constitution" takes on multiple dimensions, ranging from the literal to the figurative. In political and historical writings it often denotes the foundational legal document that sets the framework for governance and civic order—as seen in references to the proposed document in a nation’s founding [1], the establishment of legal authority [2, 3, 4] or even a government’s structural design [5, 6]. At the same time, authors employ "constitution" to describe the inherent makeup or character of individuals and groups—sometimes highlighting physical robustness or fragility [7, 8, 9] and at other times underscoring the moral or natural disposition of a people [10, 11]. Whether discussing divine origin and natural fitness [12, 13] or metaphorically critiquing the state itself [14, 15], literature uses the word "constitution" as a rich symbol of both order and intrinsic qualities.
- The clearest marks of this prudence are stamped on the proposed Constitution.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - The Constitution was adopted in November, 1859, by popular vote.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - One of two alternatives must then be resorted to: the people must alter the constitution, or the legislature must repeal the law.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The Same Subject Continued (The Powers Conferred by the Constitution Further Considered) For the Independent Journal.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - The Federal Constitution vests all the privileges and all the responsibility of the executive power in a single individual.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The anomaly of the Constitution was the absence of provision for the judicature, the third co-ordinate branch of the government.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - He must be of a strange and unusual constitution who can content himself to live in constant disgrace and disrepute with his own particular society.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - “Ivan has a strong constitution, and I, too, believe there's every hope that he will get well,” Alyosha observed anxiously.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - A man born with a good, sound constitution, a good stomach, a good heart and good limbs, and a pretty good head-piece is rich.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - In one of my last Week's Papers I treated of Good-Nature, as it is the Effect of Constitution; I shall now speak of it as it is a Moral Virtue.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - You see the individual man building his moral edifice, as genuinely as birds their nests, by law of his own moral constitution.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway - And how perfect a proof of the natural fitness and, I may almost say, the divine origin of the aristocratic constitution of the States in Flatland!
— from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott - It is one of the Blessings of a happy Constitution, which Education may improve but not produce.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - But in this case the State has provided no way; its very Constitution is the evil.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau - But such events are rare; they are exceptions, the cause of which is always to be found in the particular constitution of the State concerned.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
