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Politics Quotes by James Madison

176 Politics quotes by James Madison

All Politics quotes James Madison’s page

James Madison writes that people need knowledge to rule themselves, because knowledge protects them from ignorance. He says the national government should have only a few clear powers, while the states keep many responsibilities. He also calls voting a basic right of a good republic.

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Religion [is] the basis and foundation of Government

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Democracy is the most vile form of government.

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What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

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The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.

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Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.

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If men were angels, there would be no need of government.

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Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.

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The truth was that all men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

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I have no doubt but that the misery of the lower classes will be found to abate wherever the Government assumes a…

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The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the…

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We are teaching the world the great truth that Governments do better without Kings & Nobles than with them.

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I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on…

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A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy,…

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I go by the great republican principle, that the people will have the virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and…

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A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises…

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The power of taxing people and their property is essential to the very existence of government.

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In all the co-temporary discussions and comments, which the Constitution underwent, it was constantly justified and recommended on the ground, that the…

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The general government is proscribed from the interfering, in any manner whatsoever, in matters respecting religion; and it may be thought to…

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I wish not to be regarded as an advocate for the particular organizations of the several state governments . . . they…

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What is the structure of government that will best guard against the precipitate counsels and factious combinations for unjust purposes, without a…

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Experience assures us, that the efficacy of the provision has been greatly over-rated; and that some more adequate defense is indispensably necessary…

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I consider it…as subverting the fundamental and characteristic principle of the Government…and as bidding defiance to the sense in which the Constitution…

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That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal…

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And may I not be allowed to ... read in the character of the American people, in their devotion to true liberty…

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Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security…

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It is not certain that with this aid alone [possession of arms], they would not be able to shake off their yokes.…

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In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. ...under the republican forms…

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If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government…

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[T]he bill exceeds the rightful authority to which governments are limited by the essential distinction between civil and religious functions, and violates…

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Because finally, 'the equal right of every citizen to the free exercise of his religion according to the dictates of conscience' is…

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But the most deplorable effect of all, is that diminution of attachment and reverence, which steals into the hearts of the people,…

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If there be a principle that ought not to be questioned within the United States, it is that every man has a…

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“The man who is possessed of wealth, who lolls on his sofa, or rolls in his carriage, cannot judge of the wants…

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“From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of…

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[I]t is the reason alone, of the public, that ought to control and regulate the government.

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In all great changes of established governments, forms ought to give way to substance

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Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.

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Government destitute of energy, will ever produce anarchy.

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If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

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A just government has no need for the clergy or the church.

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More by James Madison

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A…

Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate…

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments…

How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments…

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed,…

It is certain that every class is interested in [educational] establishments which give to the human mind its highest improvements, and to every Country…

Since it is impossible for the people spontaneously and universally, to move in concert towards their object; and it is therefore essential, that such…

The definition of the right of suffrage is very justly regarded as a fundamental article of republican government.

The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

They can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass…

The effect of a representative democracy is to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body…

“... But besides the danger of a direct mixture of Religion & civil Government , there is an evil which ought to be guarded…

Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised;…

“It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government…

The better proof of reverence for that holy name would be not to profane it by making it a topic of legislative discussion…