The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire and influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense, in a house of representatives. The most illustrious of them must, therefore, be separated from the mass, and placed by themselves in a senate; this is, to all honest and useful intents, an ostracism. - John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, vol 1 — 1787
Reading the above quote, I'm honestly not sure if Adams meant the above as a backhanded compliment to the Upper Chamber or as an insult; God only knows what he'd say nowadays...
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