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Law Quotes by James Madison

44 Law quotes by James Madison

All Law quotes James Madison’s page

Madison’s extensive commentary on law reflects the mind that helped draft the U.S. Constitution. Across forty‑four lines you’ll encounter his careful balancing of federal authority, individual rights, and the mechanisms that keep government in check.

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Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that, being a…

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[I]t is more convenient to prevent the passage of a law, than to declare it void after it has passed.

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I flatter myself [we] have in this country extinguished forever the ambitious hope of making laws for the human mind.

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A government that does not trust it's law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is itself unworthy of trust.

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In suits at common law, trial by jury in civil cases is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as…

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

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

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Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in…

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[R]efusing or not refusing to execute a law to stamp it with its final character . . . makes the Judiciary department…

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Bills of attainder, ex-post facto laws and laws impairing the obligation of contracts are contrary to the first principles of the social…

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In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power…

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I acknowledge, in the ordinary course of government, that the exposition of the laws and Constitution devolves upon the judicial. But I…

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Measures should be enacted which, without violating the rights of property, would reduce extreme wealth towards a state of mediocrity, and raise…

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It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the…

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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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Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the constitution of a senate, is the additional impediment it must prove against improper acts…

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[A]s it must be admitted that the remedy under the Constitution lies where it has been marked out by the Constitution; and…

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If it be asked what is to restrain the House of Representatives from making legal discriminations in favor of themselves and a…

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there ought always to be a constitutional method of giving efficacy to constitutional provisions. What for instance would avail restrictions on the…

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The public affairs of the union are spread throughout a very extensive region, and are extremely diversified by the local affairs connected…

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Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a…

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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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“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the…

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American citizens are instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in violation of the laws of humanity and in…

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[Christianity] existed and flourishes, not only without the support of human laws, but in spite of every opposition from them.

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Can it be of less consequence that the meaning of a Constitution should be fixed and known, than a meaning of a…

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

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Equal laws protecting equal rights…the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.

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The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and…

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This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which…

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If this spirit shall ever be so far debased, as to tolerate a law not obligatory on the legislature, as well as…

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In civilized communities, property as well as personal rights is an essential object of the laws, which encourage industry by securing the…

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“Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper or safe judges, whether a war ought…

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I have received your letter of the 6th, with the eloquent discourse delivered at the consecration of the Jewish Synagogue. Having ever…

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It is due to justice; due to humanity; due to truth; due to the sympathies of our nature; in fine, to our…

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The important distinction so well understood in America between a constitution established by the people, and unalterable by the government; and a…

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Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious…

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We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility…

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Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States, is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to…

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Because the bill in reserving a certain parcel of land in the United States for the use of said Baptist Church comprises…

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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…

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

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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 State governments…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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;…

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

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

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