Public trust

One of the reasons that bribery is regarded as a notorious evil is that it contributes to a culture of political corruption in which public trust is eroded.

The doctrine of non-resistance, against arbitrary power and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

THE THIRD charge against the House of Representatives is, that it will be taken from that class of citizens which will have least sympathy with the mass of the people.... Whilst the objection itself is levelled against a pretended oligarchy, the principle of it strikes at the very root of republican government.

The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.

The most effectual one, is such a limitation of the term of appointments as will maintain a proper responsibility to the people.In The Federalist Papers #70 Alexander Hamilton addresses the Presidency in a discussion over having more than one executive, referring to the "magistry" being an elective office, as a public trust: But one of the weightiest objections to a plurality in the Executive, and which lies as much against the last as the first plan, is, that it tends to conceal faults and destroy responsibility.

For example, the No Religious Test clause of Article VI includes both civil officers (commissioned either by the President [2]: 31  or the Constitution) and elected officials directly: ...but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.Founding Father Thomas Jefferson is popularly cited for his statement in a letter to Baron von Humboldt: When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.