Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 721 |
| AUTHOR: | Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) |
| QUOTATION: | The system … is the best that the present views and circumstances of the country will permit. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Hamilton acknowledged the imperfect nature of the government that would result from adopting the Constitution, but he felt it imprudent “to prolong the precarious state of our national affairs … in the chimerical pursuit of the perfect plan.” |
| SUBJECTS: | Government |