A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. — James Madison Copy Share Image
It would have marked a want of foresight in the convention, which our own experience would have rendered inexcusable. — James Madison Copy Share Image
If we really want to make progress and achieve greater fairness as a society, it is time for elemental change. And we… — Anonymous Copy Share Image
Let our government be like that of the solar system. Let the general government be like the sun and the states the… — John Dickinson Copy Share Image
[M]y wish is, that the Convention may adopt no temporizing expedient, but probe the defects of the Constitution [i.e., the Articles of… — George Washington Copy Share Image
There never was an assembly of men, charged with a great and arduous trust, who were more pure in their motives, or… — James Madison Copy Share Image
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth —… — Benjamin Franklin Copy Share Image
As the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most… — William E. Gladstone Copy Share Image
There was not a member of the Constitutional Convention who had the least objection to what is contended for by the advocates… — George Washington Copy Share Image
We have seen the mere distinction of color made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“In framing a system which we wish to last for ages, we shd. not lose sight of the changes which ages will… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Why did the Articles [of Confederation] fail so completely? Most historians believe the founding fathers spent a great deal of their first… — Jon Stewart Copy Share Image
Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we… — Benjamin Franklin Copy Share Image
You give me a credit to which I have no claim in calling me "the writer of the Constitution of the United… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“In 1787, Benjamin Franklin was supposedly asked what would emerge from the Constitutional Convention being held in Philadelphia. “A republic,” Franklin answered,… — Thomas M. Nichols Copy Share Image
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build… — Benjamin Franklin Copy Share Image
When a Cabinet Minister who is sacked for telling lies is re-appointed, in the face of every constitutional convention, only for the… — William Hague Copy Share Image
The Constitutional Convention debated whether America should even have a standing army. ... They worried that a powerful military could rival civilian… — Rachel Maddow Copy Share Image
There may have been somewhere, as a few eighteenth-century philosophers dreamed, a group of peaceful men who got together one evening after… — Henry Hazlitt Copy Share Image
I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth --… — Benjamin Franklin Copy Share Image
“Hamilton drew freely on statements he had made at the Constitutional Convention to distinguish his “elective monarch” from a king. The British… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“The phrase 'Founding Fathers' is a proper noun. It refers to a specific group: the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. There were… — Greg Koukl Copy Share Image
“Another view of the Constitution was put forward early in the twentieth century by the historian Charles Beard (arousing anger and indignation,… — Howard Zinn Copy Share Image
“To narrow natural rights to such neat slogans as "liberty, equality, fraternity" or "life, liberty, property," . . . was to ignore… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“Assessing Miller's rebuttal and the 1895 convention, W.E.B. Du Bois made a sobering observation. Miller had, on some fundamental level, misunderstood the… — Ta-Nehisi Coates Copy Share Image
Whilst the last members were signing it Doctr. Franklin looking towards the Presidents chair, at the back of which a rising sun… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The great objects which presented themselves [to the Constitutional Convention] ... formed a task more difficult than can be well conceived by… — James Madison Copy Share Image
![“[The Federal Convention] is really an assembly of demigods.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6b1/thomas-jefferson-43_assembly_the-federal-convention-is-really-an-asse_2104154.jpg)
![“[M]y wish is, that the Convention may adopt no temporizing expedient, but probe the defects of the Constitution [i.e., the Articles of Confederation] to the bottom, and provide radical cures.” quote by George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1cb/george-washington-257_articles_m-y-wish-is-that-the-convention-may-adop_2645951.jpg)
![“In framing a system which we wish to last for ages, we shd. not lose sight of the changes which ages will produce. [James Madison in the U.S. Constitutional Convention, June 26, 1787. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Farrand (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), 1:422.]” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/301/james-madison-373_constitution_in-framing-a-system-which-we-wish-to-las_2108455.jpg)
![“Why did the Articles [of Confederation] fail so completely? Most historians believe the founding fathers spent a great deal of their first constitutional convention drafting the delaration of independence and only realized on July 3rd the Articles were also due.” quote by Jon Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/546/jon-stewart-455_articles_why-did-the-articles-of-confederation-fa_2356951.jpg)
![“The great objects which presented themselves [to the Constitutional Convention] ... formed a task more difficult than can be well conceived by those who were not concerned in the execution of it. Adding to these considerations the natural diversity of human opinions on all new and complicated…” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/eb8/james-madison-373_complicated_the-great-objects-which-presented-themse_2985361.jpg)