Government Quotes by Alexander Hamilton

Here sir, the people govern.

— Alexander Hamilton

...[V]igor of government is essential to the security of liberty...

— Alexander Hamilton

Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.

— Alexander Hamilton

It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government.

— Alexander Hamilton

Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government.

— Alexander Hamilton

I propose . . . . The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of republican government.

— Alexander Hamilton

Every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government.

— Alexander Hamilton

[A] power equal to every possible contingency must exist somewhere in the government . . .

— Alexander Hamilton

A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.

— Alexander Hamilton

The great leading objects of the federal government, in which revenue is concerned, are to maintain domestic peace, and provide for the…

— Alexander Hamilton

The people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government and to reform, alter, or totally change the same…

— Alexander Hamilton

Can any reasonable man be well disposed toward a government which makes war and carnage the only means of supporting itself?

— Alexander Hamilton

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice…

— Alexander Hamilton

[I]n framing a Government for a nation we ought, in those provisions which are designed to be permanent, to calculate not on…

— Alexander Hamilton

Establish that a Government may decline a provision for its debts, though able to make it, and you overthrow all public morality,…

— Alexander Hamilton

If there are such things as political axioms, the propriety of the judicial power of a government being co-extensive with its legislative,…

— Alexander Hamilton

[W]e must extend the authority of the Union to the persons of the citizens - the only proper objects of government.

— Alexander Hamilton

The vigour of government is essential to the security of liberty. . . . a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the…

— Alexander Hamilton

If circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable…

— Alexander Hamilton

The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges…

— Alexander Hamilton

Wise politicians will be cautious about fettering the government with restrictions that cannot be observed, because they know that every break of…

— Alexander Hamilton

Allow a government to decline paying its debts and you overthrow all public morality-you unhinge all the principles that preserve the limits…

— Alexander Hamilton

The Convention probably foresaw what it has been a principal aim of these papers to inculcate that the danger which most threatens…

— Alexander Hamilton

The truth is that the general genius of a government is all that can be substantially relied upon for permanent effects. Particular…

— Alexander Hamilton

In a government framed for durable liberty, not less regard must be paid to giving the magistrate a proper degree of authority,…

— Alexander Hamilton

There is no part of the administration of government that requires extensive information and a thorough knowledge of the principles of political…

— Alexander Hamilton

What plan for the regulation of the militia may be pursued by the national government is impossible to be foreseen...The project of…

— Alexander Hamilton

Good constitutions are formed upon a comparison of the liberty of the individual with the strength of government: If the tone of…

— Alexander Hamilton

The history of ancient and modern republics had taught them that many of the evils which those republics suffered arose from the…

— Alexander Hamilton

It is by far the safer course to lay [considerations of the future] altogether aside; and to confine our attention wholly to…

— Alexander Hamilton

Man is very much a creature of habit. A thing that rarely strikes his senses will generally have but little influence upon…

— Alexander Hamilton

Nothing can be more evident, than that an exclusive power of regulating elections for the National Government, in the hands of the…

— Alexander Hamilton

The administration of private justice between the citizens of the same state, the supervision of agriculture and of other concerns of a…

— Alexander Hamilton

Here, sir, the people govern; here they act by their immediate representatives.

— Alexander Hamilton

I trust that the proposed Constitution afford a genuine specimen of representative government and republican government; and that it will answer, in…

— Alexander Hamilton

It will follow that that government ought to be clothed with all powers requisite to complete execution of its trust.

— Alexander Hamilton

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original…

— Alexander Hamilton

The true principle of government is this - make the system compleat in its structure; give a perfect proportion and balance to…

— Alexander Hamilton

It has been observed, [that for the federal government] to coerce the States is one of the maddest projects that was ever…

— Alexander Hamilton

Government is frequently and aptly classed under two descriptions-a government of force, and a government of laws; the first is the definition…

— Alexander Hamilton