The aim of every political Constitution, is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“To have submitted it to the legislative discretion of the States, would have been improper for the same reason; and for the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
... large and permanent military establishments ... are forbidden by the principles of free government, and against the necessity of which the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
[A] mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone, and that it will not depend merely on… — James Madison Copy Share Image
An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against…Every new and successful example therefore of a PERFECT… — James Madison Copy Share Image
THE Constitution proposed by the convention may be considered under two general points of view. The FIRST relates to the sum or… — James Madison Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
It becomes all therefore who are friends of a Government based on free principles to reflect, that by denying the possibility of… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The house of representatives ... can make no law, which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Waiving the rights of conscience, not included in the surrender implied by the social state, & more or less invaded by all… — James Madison Copy Share Image
[T]he delegation of the government, in [a republic], to a small number of citizens elected by the rest . . . [is]… — James Madison Copy Share Image
If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude and all the other qualities which enoble the character of a nation, and fulfill the ends… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments the real power lies in… — James Madison Copy Share Image
It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first… — James Madison Copy Share Image
It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The passions, therefore, not the reason, of the public would sit in judgment. But it is the reason, alone, of the public,… — James Madison Copy Share Image
It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good, the real welfare of the great body… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Power must be in the hands of the wealth of the nation, those who have sympathy for property owners and their rights,… — James Madison Copy Share Image
We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The principles and modes of governments are too important to be disregarded by an inquisitive mind and I think are well worthy… — James Madison Copy Share Image
I acknowledge, in the ordinary course of government, that the exposition of the laws and Constitution devolves upon the judicial. But I… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“The war has proved moreover that our free Government, like other free governments, though slow in its early movements, acquires in its… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Experience has instructed us that no skill in the science of government has yet been able to discriminate and define, with sufficient… — James Madison Copy Share Image
In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power… — James Madison Copy Share Image
[I]n the next place, to show that unless these departments be so far connected and blended as to give to each a… — James Madison Copy Share Image
In this relation, then, the proposed government cannot be deemed a national one; since its jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated objects only,… — James Madison Copy Share Image
[In government] the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be… — James Madison Copy Share Image
It is possible that these may all be insufficient to control the caprice and wickedness of man. But are they not all… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments… — James Madison Copy Share Image
That is not a just government where arbitrary restrictions, exemptions, and monopolies deny to part of its citizens that free use of… — James Madison Copy Share Image
And may I not be allowed to ... read in the character of the American people, in their devotion to true liberty… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Those who proposed the Constitution knew, and those who ratified the Constitution also knew that this is...a limited government tied down to… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free Government, and as they… — James Madison Copy Share Image
I wish not to be regarded as an advocate for the particular organizations of the several state governments . . . they… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The general government is proscribed from the interfering, in any manner whatsoever, in matters respecting religion; and it may be thought to… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments… — James Madison Copy Share Image
How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed,… — James Madison Copy Share Image
It is certain that every class is interested in [educational] establishments which give to the human mind its highest improvements, and to every Country… — James Madison Copy Share Image
Since it is impossible for the people spontaneously and universally, to move in concert towards their object; and it is therefore essential, that such… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The definition of the right of suffrage is very justly regarded as a fundamental article of republican government. — James Madison Copy Share Image
The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded. — James Madison Copy Share Image
They can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass… — James Madison Copy Share Image
The effect of a representative democracy is to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body… — James Madison Copy Share Image
“... But besides the danger of a direct mixture of Religion & civil Government , there is an evil which ought to be guarded… — James Madison Copy Share Image
![“[A] mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands.” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/733/james-madison-373_concentration_a-mere-demarcation-on-parchment-of-the-c_428771.jpg)
![“[T]he delegation of the government, in [a republic], to a small number of citizens elected by the rest . . . [is] to refine and enlarge the public views by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country and whose…” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ffa/james-madison-373_and-love_t-he-delegation-of-the-government-in-a-r_999223.jpg)
![“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries. [ Letter objecting to the use of government land for churches, 1803 ]” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1f2/james-madison-373_church-and-state_the-purpose-of-separation-of-church-and_1649803.jpg)
![“[I]n the next place, to show that unless these departments be so far connected and blended as to give to each a constitutional control over the others, the degree of separation which the maxim requires, as essential to a free government, can never in practice be duly maintained.” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a20/james-madison-373_connected_i-n-the-next-place-to-show-that-unless-t_2940160.jpg)
![“[In government] the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other-that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights.” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0a4/james-madison-373_aim_in-government-the-constant-aim-is-to-div_988905.jpg)
![“And may I not be allowed to ... read in the character of the American people, in their devotion to true liberty and to the Constitution which is its palladium [protection], ... a Government which watches over ... the equal interdict [prohibition] against encroachments and compacts between religion…” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1a9/james-madison-373_american-people_and-may-i-not-be-allowed-to-read-in-the_833132.jpg)
![“It is certain that every class is interested in [educational] establishments which give to the human mind its highest improvements, and to every Country its truest and most durable celebrity.” quote by James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/964/james-madison-373_certain_it-is-certain-that-every-class-is-intere_22217.jpg)
