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"The clause seems to express a great deal of humanity, on which account I have no objection to it; but, as it seems to have no meaning in it, I do not think it necessary. . . . No cruel and unusual punishment is to be inflicted; it is sometimes necessary to hang a man, villains often deserve whipping, and perhaps having their ears cut off; but are we in the future to be prevented from inflicting these punishments because they are cruel? If a more lenient mode of correcting vice and deterring others from the commission of it could be invented, it would be very prudent in the Legislature to adopt it; but until we have some security that this will be done, we ought not to be restrained from making necessary laws by any declaration of this kind." Representative Samuel Livermore 1789

Louise woke up to the shrill ringing of her alarm clock. She ignored it at first, but could not bear the terrible din, and finally got out of bed and hit the damned contracption with a fist. She wasn't very good in the mornings. Lousie was 25, single, and unemployed. She had been fired from her last job for, funnily enough, her faliure to get in on time. She hurridly put on her clothes, walked briskly round to the bus stop and waited in the freezing cold. Eventually, the vechile arrived and she climbed on board. Stealing a quick glance at her watch, she noticed that she would have enough time. As long as their were no roadworks, and the lights stayed green.