Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. Putting an economic system outside the control of government ignores the natural tendency of individuals to use all powers for their own interests and to the detriment of others, if they can. Economical considerations form some of the strongest motivations in man. The idea that absolute economic freedom would be conducive to justice and fairness, not to corruption, might work in the world of fiction, but it has no relationship to the real world. Recognizing this, and protecting against it, was one of the aims of the Founders.
Every government tends toward corruption abetted by self-interest.
Protection was to be found, not in admonitions or trust, but in strict oversight of government by the people. It would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights. Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism. Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence. It is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power.