The refusal to assume pervasive altruism or civic devotion is the hallmark of
American constitutionalism. In the words of George Washington: ‘‘A small knowledge
of human nature will convince us that, with far the greatest part of mankind,
interest is the governing principle; and that almost every man is more or less, under
its influence. Motives of public virtue may for a time, or in particular circumstances,
actuate men to the observance of a conduct purely disinterested; but they are not of
themselves sufficient to produce persevering conformity to the refined dictates and
obligations of social duty’’(quoted in Morgenthau 1978, ch. 1). In Federalist 51 James
Madison drew out the implications for political institutions: ‘‘The interest of the man
must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection
on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of
government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on
human nature?’’ While government is the greatest, it is anything but unique. Madison
mused that ‘‘this policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of
better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, private as
well as public’’ (Rossiter 1961, 322).