Constitution Quotes by Alexander Hamilton

The civil jury is a valuable safeguard to liberty.

— Alexander Hamilton

If the Constitution is adopted (and it was) the Union will be in fact and in theory an association of States or…

— Alexander Hamilton

The truth is, after all the declamations we have heard, that the Constitution is itself, in every rational sense, and to every…

— Alexander Hamilton

The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.

— Alexander Hamilton

A treaty cannot be made which alters the Constitution of the country, or which infringes and express exceptions to the power of…

— Alexander Hamilton

For my part, I sincerely esteem the Constitution, a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and…

— Alexander Hamilton

[T]here is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to…

— Alexander Hamilton

“No man ought certainly to be a judge in his own cause, or in any cause in respect to which he has…

— Alexander Hamilton

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

— Alexander Hamilton

[T]he Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws…

— Alexander Hamilton

The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by…

— Alexander Hamilton

To answer the purpose of the adversaries of the Constitution, they ought to prove, not merely that particular provisions in it are…

— Alexander Hamilton

But as the plan of the convention aims only at a partial union or consolidation, the State governments would clearly retain all…

— Alexander Hamilton

Whoever attentively considers the different departments of power must perceive, that, in a government in which they are separated from each other,…

— Alexander Hamilton

In this distribution of powers the wisdom of our constitution is manifested. It is the province and duty of the Executive to…

— Alexander Hamilton

If the end be clearly comprehended within any of the specified powers, and if the measure have an obvious relation to that…

— Alexander Hamilton

If it were to be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic?…

— Alexander Hamilton

The President, and government, will only control the militia when a part of them is in the actual service of the federal…

— Alexander Hamilton

Constitutions of civil government are not to be framed upon a calculation of existing exigencies, but upon a combination of these with…

— Alexander Hamilton

The constitution of human nature" teaches us not to expect "that the persons, entrusted with the administration of the affairs of the…

— Alexander Hamilton

The states have authority to interpret the Constitution, enforce it, and protect the people from violations of it by the federal government…

— Alexander Hamilton

As riches increase and accumulate in few hands, as luxury prevails in society, virtue will be in a greater degree considered as…

— 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 President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. In this respect his authority would be…

— 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

We are attempting, by this Constitution, to abolish factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare.

— Alexander Hamilton

The powers contained in a constitution...ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.

— Alexander Hamilton

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

— Alexander Hamilton

What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? An inviolable respect for the Constitution…

— Alexander Hamilton

Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for…

— Alexander Hamilton

After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution…

— 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

Tyranny has perhaps oftener grown out of the assumptions of power, called for, on pressing exigencies, by a defective constitution, than out…

— 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 same rule that teaches the propriety of a partition between the various branches of power, teaches us likewise that this partition…

— 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

It is a singular capriciousness of the human mind, that after all the admonitions we have had from experience on this head,…

— 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 it be said that the legislative body are themselves the constitutional judges of their own powers, and that the construction they…

— Alexander Hamilton