Republican Government Quotes - Page 2

• 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 form would be reconcileable with the genius of the people of America; with the fundamental principles of the revolution; or with that honourable determination which animates every votary of freedom, to rest all our political experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government.

  James Madison

  Determination, Government, Self

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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• A republican government in a hundred points is weaker than an autocratic government; but in this one point it is the strongest that ever existed — it has educated a race of men that are men.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Inspirational, Education, Men

  "Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit".

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• There are two subjects, indeed, which I shall claim a right to further as long as I breathe: the public education, and the sub-division of counties into wards. I consider the continuance of republican government as absolutely hanging on these two hooks.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Education, Government, Two

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.239

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• He [Washington] has often declared to me that he considered our new constitution as an experiment on the practicability of republican government, and with what dose of liberty man could be trusted for his own good; that he was determined the experiment should have a fair trial, and would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it. And these declarations he repeated to me the oftener and the more pointedly.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Blood, Should Have

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.237

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• Of all the objections which have been framed against the federal Constitution, this is perhaps the most extraordinary. Whilst the objection itself is levelled against a pretended oligarchy, the principle of it strikes at the very root of republican government.

  James Madison

  Government, Roots, Principles

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government”, p.307, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• The republican principle demands that the deliberate sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men, who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Art, Passion, Men

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government”, p.383, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• We are ready to end fascism once and for all, even in spite of the Republican government.

  Buenaventura Durruti

  Government, Republican, Ends

  The Toronto Daily Star, August 5, 1936.

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• What is understood by republican government in the United States is the slow and quiet action of society upon itself.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  United States, World, Action

  Alexis De Tocqueville (2009). “Democracy in America: Volumes I & II”, p.754, The Floating Press

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• [John] Adams never had an optimistic view of human nature, and his experience in the Congress and abroad only deepened his suspicion that his fellow Americans might not have the character to sustain a republican government.

  Gordon S. Wood

  Optimistic, Character, Government

  Source: www.theimaginativeconservative.org

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• The truth is that neither then nor at any former time, since I had attained my maturity in Age, Reading and reflection had I imbibed any general Prejudice against Kings, or in favour of them. It appeared to me then as it has done ever since, that there is a State of Society in which a Republican Government is the best, and in America the only one.

  John Adams

  Kings, Reading, Maturity

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1851). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: Autobiography (cont.) Diary. Notes of a debate in the Senate of the United States. Essays: On private revenge. On self-delusion. On private revenge. Dissertation on the canon and the feudal law. Instructions of the town of Braintree to their representative, 1765. The Earl of Clarendon to William Pym. Governor Winthrop to Governor Bradford. Instructions of the town of Boston to their representatives, 1768. Instructions of the town of”, p.154

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• [I] never understood [what a republican government was and] I believe no other man ever did or ever will.

  John Adams

  Believe, Men, America

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• Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superiour to all private passions.

  John Adams

  Real, Passion, Government

  Massachusetts Historical Society, John Adams, Samuel Adams, James Warren (1917). “Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence Among John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren ... 1743-1814”

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• Donald Trump's staffing up a pretty traditional, very conservative Republican government, not a populist outsider government, at least not yet.

  Mara Liasson

  Government, Outsiders, Conservative

  Source: www.npr.org

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• In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude. Every man will speak as he thinks, or, more properly, without thinking, and consequently will judge of effects without attending to their causes.

  George Washington

  Men, Thinking, Voice

  George Washington (1839). “Life”, p.303

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• [T]he people seem to have deposited the monarchical and taken up the republican government with as much ease as would have attended their throwing off an old and putting on a new suit of clothes.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Taken, Government, Clothes

  Thomas Jefferson, Lyman Henry Butterfield, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti (1950). “1777-18 June, 1779, including the Revisal of the laws, 1776-1786”

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• Europeans believe in democracy - or, at least, in republican government - but they have considered the alternatives, and continue to do so, and that scandalizes Americans.

  William Pfaff

  Believe, Government, Democracy

  "Barbarian Sentiments - How The American Century Ends". Book by William Pfaff, Chapter 2, The Challenge of Europe, p. 23, 1989.

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• Donald Trump will lead a unified Republican government. And we will work hand-in- hand on a positive agenda to tackle America's big challenges.

  Paul Ryan

  Government, Hands, America

  "How'd He Do It?". www.wsj.com. November 14, 2016.

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• History and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.

  George Washington

  Government, Republican, Influence

  George Washington, Andrew Jackson (1862). “Washington's Farewell Address: The Proclamation of Jackson Against Nullification, and the Declaration of Independence”, p.10

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• But if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government, and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter.

  George Washington

  Government, Law, Confusion

  George Washington (1851). “The life of General Washington: first president of the United States”, p.216

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• It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret with me that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign countries for the purpose of education. Although there are many who escape the danger of contracting principles unfavorable to republican governments, yet we ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and susceptible minds from being too strongly and too early prejudiced in favor of other political systems, before they are capable of appreciating their own.

  George Washington

  Education, Country, Regret

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1840). “The Writings of George Washington: pt. IV. Letters official and private, from the beginning of his presidency to the end of his life: (v. 10) May, 1789-November, 1794. (v. 11) November, 1794-December, 1799”, p.14

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• The United States is no more a Christian nation because most of its citizens are Christians than it is a 'white' nation because most of its citizens are white. We are Americans because we practice democracy and believe in republican government, not because we practice revealed religion and believe in Bible-based government.

  John Stuart Mill

  Christian, Believe, Government

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• The idea of governing at all times by the simple force of law (which we have been told is the only admissible principle of republican government) has no place but in the reveries of those political doctors whose sagacity disdains the admonitions of experimental instruction.

  Alexander Hamilton

  War, Simple, Doctors

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.133, Coventry House Publishing

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• 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, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior.

  James Madison

  Government, Names, People

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2003). “The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus”, p.182, Cambridge University Press

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• The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good behavior; the representation of the people in the legislature by deputies of their own election . . . They are means, and powerful means, by which the excellences of republican government may be retained and its imperfections lessened or avoided.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Powerful, Mean, Distribution Of Power

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Quentin P. Taylor, John Jay (1998). “The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers”, p.109, Rowman & Littlefield

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• The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize.

  George Washington

  Real, Home, Government

  George Washington (1810). “Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States”, p.7

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