18 October 1787

To the Citizens of the State of New York

"...It is proper here to remark, that the authority to lay and collect taxes is the most important of any power that can be granted; it connects with it almost all other powers, or at least will in process of time draw all other after it; it is the great means of protection, security, and defence, in a good government, and the great engine of oppression and tyranny in a bad one." "Brutus" Essay I pp9

These essays appeared in the New York Journal as part of the Constitutional Convention Debates.