It is a misfortune incident to republican government, though in a less degree than to other governments, that those who administer it,… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The aim of every political Constitution, is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that… — James Madison Copy Share Image
[In a democracy] a common passion or interest will, in almost every case , be felt by a majority of the whole;… — James Madison Copy Share Image
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The American people owe it to themselves, and to the cause of free Government, to prove by their establishments for the advancement… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The appointment of senators by the state legislatures . . . is recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select appointment,… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The house of representatives ... can make no law, which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Waiving the rights of conscience, not included in the surrender implied by the social state, & more or less invaded by all… — James Madison Copy Share Image
It becomes all therefore who are friends of a Government based on free principles to reflect, that by denying the possibility of… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The preservation of a free government requires not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The smaller the number and the more permanent and conspicuous the station of men in power, the stronger must be the interest… — James Madison Copy Share Image
It is sufficiently obvious, that persons and property are the two great subjects on which Governments are to act; and that the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
On the distinctive principles of the Government ... of the U. States, the best guides are to be found in ... The… — James Madison Copy Share Image
THE Constitution proposed by the convention may be considered under two general points of view. The FIRST relates to the sum or… — James Madison Copy Share Image
... large and permanent military establishments ... are forbidden by the principles of free government, and against the necessity of which the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“To have submitted it to the legislative discretion of the States, would have been improper for the same reason; and for the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against…Every new and successful example therefore of a PERFECT… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone, and that it will not depend merely on… — James Madison Copy Share Image
[A] mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which… — James Madison Copy Share Image
We are teaching the world the great truth that Governments do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Landholders ought to have a share in the government to support these invaluable interests and check the other many. They ought to… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The free system of government we have established is so congenial with reason, with common sense, and with a universal feeling, that… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Stability in government is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to that repose and… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper or safe judges, whether a war ought… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and… — James Madison Copy Share Image
At first view it might seem not to square with the republican theory, to suppose either that a majority have not the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical… — James Madison Copy Share Image
No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a… — James Madison Copy Share Image
A good government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Of all the objections which have been framed against the federal Constitution, this is perhaps the most extraordinary. Whilst the objection itself… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an… — James Madison Copy Share Image
That useful alterations will be suggested by experience, could not but be foreseen . . . . It moreover equally enables the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A… — James Madison Copy Share
Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate… — James Madison Copy Share
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments… — James Madison Copy Share
How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments… — James Madison Copy Share
The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed,… — James Madison Copy Share
It is certain that every class is interested in [educational] establishments which give to the human mind its highest improvements, and to every Country… — James Madison Copy Share
Since it is impossible for the people spontaneously and universally, to move in concert towards their object; and it is therefore essential, that such… — James Madison Copy Share
The definition of the right of suffrage is very justly regarded as a fundamental article of republican government. — James Madison Copy Share
The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded. — James Madison Copy Share
They can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass… — James Madison Copy Share
The effect of a representative democracy is to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body… — James Madison Copy Share
“... But besides the danger of a direct mixture of Religion & civil Government , there is an evil which ought to be guarded… — James Madison Copy Share
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;… — James Madison Copy Share
“It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government… — James Madison Copy Share
The better proof of reverence for that holy name would be not to profane it by making it a topic of legislative discussion… — James Madison Copy Share