All James Madison Quotes
- there ought always to be a constitutional method of giving efficacy to constitutional provisions. What for instance would avail restrictions on the authority of the… Articles
- [R]efusing or not refusing to execute a law to stamp it with its final character . . . makes the Judiciary department paramount in fact… Character
- It may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more constant to the public good than if… Constant
- It may be concluded that a pure democracy . . . can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. Admit
- [In a democracy] a common passion or interest will, in almost every case , be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and… Almost Every
- I regret, as much as any member, the unavoidable weight and duration of the burdens to be imposed; having never been a proselyte to the… Any
- Attempts to enforce by legal sanctions, acts obnoxious to so great a proportion of Citizens, tend to enervate the laws in general, and to slacken… Acts
- The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon . . . has ever been justly deemed… Among
- That this liberty [of the press] is often carried to excess; that it has sometimes degenerated into licentiousness, is seen and lamented, but the remedy… Allied
- In the latter sense, a man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them. He has a property of peculiar value… Choice
- [T]he most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without… Actuated
- From the the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results. Acquiring
- [Property] embraces everything to which a man may attach a value and have a right. Attach
- Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one. Bounds
- Nothing is so contagious as opinion, especially on questions which, being susceptible of very different glosses, beget in the mind a distrust of itself. Beget
- When men exercise their reason coolly and freely, on a variety of distinct questions, they inevitably fall into different opinions, on some of them. When… Called
- If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which different forms of government are established, we may define a republic to be,… Administered
- A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for… Cure
- The genius of Republican liberty, seems to demand on one side, not only that all power should be derived from the people; but, that those… All
- It is of great importance in a republic, not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers; but to guard one part… Great
- It is a misfortune incident to republican government, though in a less degree than to other governments, that those who administer it, may forget their… Administer
- I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other. Any
- In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the disease incident to republican government. Behold
- The first question that offers itself is, whether the general form and aspect of the government be strictly republican? It is evident that no other… All
- What is to be the consequence, in case the Congress shall misconstrue this part [the necessary and proper clause] of the Constitution and exercise powers… Acts