Majority Quotes by James Madison

If we are to take for the criterion of truth the majority of suffrages, they ought to be gotten from those philosophic…

— James Madison

Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the…

— James Madison

In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.

— James Madison

The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority.

— James Madison

The American people are too well schooled in the duty and practice of submitting to the will of the majority to permit…

— James Madison

The primary function of government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority of the poor.

— James Madison

Where a majority are united by a common sentiment, and have an opportunity, the rights of the minor party become insecure.

— James Madison

[In a democracy] a common passion or interest will, in almost every case , be felt by a majority of the whole;…

— James Madison

At first view it might seem not to square with the republican theory, to suppose either that a majority have not the…

— James Madison

Landholders ought to have a share in the government to support these invaluable interests and check the other many. They ought to…

— James Madison

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

— James Madison

Extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority…

— James Madison

By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are…

— James Madison

There is no maxim, in my opinion, which is more liable to be misapplied, and which, therefore, more needs elucidation, than the…

— James Madison

...Freedom arises from the multiplicity of sects, which prevades America and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in…

— James Madison

Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public…

— James Madison

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

— James Madison

A pure democracy can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will be felt by a…

— James Madison

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those…

— James Madison

A pure Democracy, by which I mean a Society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the Government…

— James Madison

The smaller the society, the fewer probably will be the distinct parties and interests composing it; the fewer the distinct parties and…

— James Madison

Power must be in the hands of the wealth of the nation, those who have sympathy for property owners and their rights,…

— James Madison