All James Madison Quotes
- How could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited, unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and establishments of… Ambition
- The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of… Adapted
- What is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator. Creator
- The most productive system of finance will always be the least burdensome. Burdensome
- There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation, than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that… Answerable
- Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to… Affecting
- I own myself the friend to a very free system of commerce, and hold it as a truth, that commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive… Certain
- The defect of power in the existing confederacy, to regulate the commerce between its several members is in the number of those which have been… Been
- The regulation of commerce, it is true, is a new power; but that seems to be an addition which few oppose and from which no… Addition
- We have the self-evident right to regulate our trade according to our own will and our own interest . . . . This right can… According
- Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us… Among
- This policy of supplying by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, both… Affair
- Reason, on the contrary, assures us, that as in so great a number, a fit representative would be most likely to be found, so the… Ambitious
- These examples, though as unfit for the imitation, as they are repugnant to the genius of America, are notwithstanding . . . very instructive proofs… America
- Who are to be the objects of popular choice? Every citizen whose merit may recommend him to the esteem and confidence of his country. Choice
- The great desideratum in Government is, so to modify the sovereignty as that it may be sufficiently neutral between different parts of the Society to… Adverse
- It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a… All
- A good government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a knowledge of the… Attained
- Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence… Accurately
- There is one view of the subject which ought to have its influence on those who espouse doctrines which strike at the authoritative origin and… All
- It may be considered as an objection inherent in the principle, that as every appeal to the people would carry an implication of some defect… Appeal
- [I]t is the reason alone, of the public, that ought to control and regulate the government. Alone
- The most that the Convention could do in such a situation, was to avoid the errors suggested by the past experience of other countries, as… Avoid
- We may be assured by past experience, that such a practice [as some states charging high taxes on goods from other states] would be introduced… Affair
- At first view it might seem not to square with the republican theory, to suppose either that a majority have not the right, or that… Cases