James Madison Quotes - Page 18

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• If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy of the favorable regard of the Holy and Omniscient Being to Whom it is addressed, it must be that in which those who join in it are guided only be their free choice-by the impulse of their hearts and the dictates of their consciences.

  James Madison

  Heart, People, Choices

  James Madison, Robert Allen Rutland (1984). “The Papers of James Madison: 8 February-24 October 1813”

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• All that seems indispensible in stating the account between the dead and the living, is to see that the debts against the latter do not exceed the advances made by the former.

  James Madison

  Debt, Made, Latter

  James Madison (1867). “1769-1793”, p.504

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• Congress shall have Power . . . to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Time to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

  James Madison

  Education, Art, Writing

  Thomas Paine, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2017). “The Origin of the Nation: Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Other Amendments, Federalist Papers & Common Sense: Creating America - Landmark Documents that Shaped a New Nation”, p.508, Madison & Adams Press

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• Religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and, therefore, that all men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the magistrate, unless under color of religion any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or safety of society, and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity toward each other.

  James Madison

  Christian, Exercise, Men

  James Madison (1900). “The Writings of James Madison: 1769-1783”

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• The best service that can be rendered to a Country, next to that of giving it liberty, is in diffusing the mental improvement equally essential to the preservation, and the enjoyment of the blessing.

  James Madison

  Education, Country, Blessing

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.42, University of Virginia Press

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

  James Madison

  Evil, Political, Slavery

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828”, p.193

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• Man, who preys both on the vegetable and animal species, is himself a prey to neither. He too possesses the reproductive principle far beyond the degree requisite for the bare continuance of his species. What becomes of the surplus of human life to which this principle is competent?

  James Madison

  Men, Animal, Vegetables

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.454

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• [Montesquieu] lifted the veil from the venerable errors which enslaved opinion, and pointed the way to those luminous truths of which he had but a glimpse himself.

  James Madison

  Errors, Glimpse, Veils

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.474

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• 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 pronounced by the people themselves.

  James Madison

  Voice, People, Democracy

  "Federalist No. 10. The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection" by James Madison, www.congress.gov. November 23, 1787.

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• The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets.

  James Madison

  Party, Opportunity, Numbers

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1831). “The Federalist on the New Constitution”, p.48

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• Experience has instructed us that no skill in the science of government has yet been able to discriminate and define, with sufficient certainty, its three great provinces the legislative, executive, and judiciary; or even the privileges and powers of the different legislative branches.

  James Madison

  Government, Skills, Different

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.164

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• Experience assures us, that the efficacy of the provision has been greatly over-rated; and that some more adequate defense is indispensably necessary for the more feeble, against the more powerful members of the government.

  James Madison

  Powerful, Government, Defense

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2014). “The Federalist Papers”, p.242, Courier Corporation

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• 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 a minority will have the force to subvert a government . . . . But theoretic reasoning in this, as in most other cases, must be qualified by the lessons of practice.

  James Madison

  Squares, Government, Views

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.216, Coventry House Publishing

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• Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect. [...] Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth.

  James Madison

  Loyalty, Country, Religious

  Letter to Jacob De La Motta, printed in "Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 3" (1867), August 1820.

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• 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 choice would be less likely to be diverted from him, by the intrigues of the ambitious, or the bribes of the rich.

  James Madison

  Numbers, Choices, Ambitious

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.282, Coventry House Publishing

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• The temple through which alone lies the road to that of Liberty.

  James Madison

  Lying, Liberty, Temples

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828: 1816-1828”, p.517

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• Liberty and order will never be perfectly safe until a trespass on the Constitution provisions for either, shall be felt with the same keenness that resents and invasion of the dearest rights.

  James Madison

  Rights, Order, Second Amendment

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.468

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• We have the self-evident right to regulate our trade according to our own will and our own interest . . . . This right can be denied to no independent nation.

  James Madison

  Independent, Self, Interest

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.489

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• 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 state legislatures, without some constitutional mode of enforcing the observance of them? . . . This power must either be a direct negative on the state laws, or an authority in the federal courts, to over-rule such as might be in manifest contravention of the articles of union.

  James Madison

  Law, Giving, Negative

  Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison (2010). “The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States”, p.508, Modern Library

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• 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 apprehensions are entertained.

  James Madison

  Regulation, Commerce, Apprehension

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.216

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• 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 our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises. To say that the United States should be answerable for twenty-five millions of dollars without knowing whether the ways and means can be provided, and without knowing whether those who are to succeed us will think with us on the subject, would be rash and unjustifiable. Sir, in my opinion, it would be hazarding the public faith in a manner contrary to every idea of prudence.

  James Madison

  Mean, Thinking, Knowing

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• 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 every hostile nation? The means of security can only be regulated by the means and the danger of attack. They will, in fact, be ever determined by these rules, and by no others . . . . If one nation maintains constantly a disciplined army, ready for service of ambition or revenge, it obliges the most pacific nations who may be within the reach of its enterprises to take corresponding precautions.

  James Madison

  Revenge, War, Ambition

  "Federalist No. 41. General View of the Powers Conferred by the Constitution" by James Madison, www.congress.gov.

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• To consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.

  James Madison

  Miracle, Degrees, Constitution

  James Madison (1867). “1769-1793”, p.344

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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 proposed constitution, therefore, even when tested by the rules laid down by its antagonists, is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both. In its foundation it is federal, not national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the government are drawn, it is partly federal, and partly national; in the operation of these powers, it is national, not federal; in the extent of them again, it is federal, not national; and finally, in the authoritative mode of introducing amendments, it is neither wholly federal, nor wholly national.

  James Madison

  Government, Foundation, Ordinary

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.179

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