This passage sounds quite confusing. What does it mean?

The passage is confusing...to the point of being incomprehensible.



It means the person who wrote it was pissed at some people who were trying to obstruct a law he/she agreed with...

...but was unable to write a coherent paragraph explaining why he/she was pissed.

The will of the people who hold beliefs in line with, yet different to the many, in most cases.

Dividing lines are not always so damaging to the efforts of the nature of correctness as others would imply, on the small scale when dealing with local peering that is to say. On the large scale the issues become more pronounced.

Dav.

Ori - did you edit or paraphrase this passage? The words don't even have a verb much less a main thought. Please print the entire passage as it was written.

The piece (Washington's 1796 farewell address) is perfectly understandable.

I have inserted a deleted section in order to make sense

Wow, is my face red!

Well...back in Washington's day, they did write out thoughts that were almost incomprehensible to today's people. I expect folk back them were able to make sense of it, but it certainly would not pass the Word test today. But then again, neither would the "Four score and seven years ago..." speech.

Here's the full quote:

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

Got cut off by the editing timeout...

All obstructions to the execution of the laws…serve…to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a…small but artful and enterprising minority of the community… [and] to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans as digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

The piece (Washington's 1796 farewell address) is perfectly understandable. It is couched in formal 18th Century English.

I have inserted a deleted section in order to make sense.

You have missed the fact that "serve to" is a phrasal verb.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws [of the elected government of the USA]

serve to [have a tendency to]

put in the place of [substitute for]...

the delegated will of the [whole] nation the will of a…small but artful and enterprising minority of the community [perfectly clear]

[and]

to make the public administration [the legal and financial work of the Government]

the mirror [the embodiment]

of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction [plans and plots of narrow sections of the people] rather than

the organ [instrument of execution]

of consistent and wholesome plans [perfectly understandable]

[that are]

digested by common counsels [debated widely]

and

modified by mutual interests. [altered in debate to reflect shared values and interests]