Political Quotes by James Madison

The truth was that all men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

— James Madison

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

— James Madison

Our opinions agree as to the evil, moral, political, and economical, of slavery.

— James Madison

Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.

— James Madison

We are teaching the world the great truth that Governments do better without Kings & Nobles than with them.

— James Madison

A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and…

— James Madison

The safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political institutions aim, and to which all such institutions must…

— James Madison

The security intended to the general liberty consists in the frequent election and in the rotation of the members of Congress.

— James Madison

The nation which reposes on the pillow of political confidence, will sooner or later end its political existence in a deadly lethargy.

— James Madison

Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain…

— James Madison

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

— James Madison

But cool and candid people will at once reflect, that the purest of human blessings must have a portion of alloy in…

— James Madison

We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked…

— James Madison

The political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free Government, and as they…

— 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

Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a…

— James Madison

If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which different forms of government are established, we may define a…

— James Madison

The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well…

— James Madison

In republican government the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this . . . is to divide the legislature into different…

— James Madison

But the most deplorable effect of all, is that diminution of attachment and reverence, which steals into the hearts of the people,…

— James Madison

The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a…

— James Madison

Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security…

— James Madison

The first question that offers itself is, whether the general form and aspect of the government be strictly republican? It is evident…

— James Madison

It is superfluous to try by the standards of theory, a part of the constitution which is allowed on all hands to…

— James Madison

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

— James Madison

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

The house of representatives ... can make no law, which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as…

— James Madison

The aim of every political Constitution, is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to…

— James Madison

The American people owe it to themselves, and to the cause of free Government, to prove by their establishments for the advancement…

— James Madison

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

— James Madison

[A] mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which…

— James Madison