The right to decide

An astute observer noted that of those supporting the proposed US constitution “many of them are possessed of high aristocratic ideas, and the most sovereign contempt of the common people” (Brutus Junior, The New York Journal, 8 November 1787, available as Antifederalist 38).
As if to prove Brutus Junior correct, a member of the Southern gentry (an aristocrat without a title) was explaining the purpose of the Senate and, after flattering his readers in The Independent Journal as being of superior vision, the writer had little respect for the ability of the common people (“We, the People”?) to make appropriate decisions: