If there existed a "standard of infallibility to political opinions," [George Washington] wrote, no one "would resort to it with more eagerness than myself, so long as I remain a servant of the public. But I have found no better guide than upright intentions and close investigations [. . .]" (Chapter 5, "President Washington", elisions added)

Now [Alexander Hamilton] wrote Lafayette, "I dread the reveries of your Philosophic politicians . . . who being mere speculists may aim at more refinement than suits . . . with human nature." (Chapter 7, "Alexander Hamilton and the American Dream," elisions in the source)

[...] their experiment in government, still brand new, seemed fragile to them: Benjamin Franklin's famous answer to Elizabeth Powel's question of what kind of government the Constitutional Convention had produced, "A republic -- if you can keep it." (Chapter 7, "Alexander Hamilton and the American Dream," elisions added)