James Madison Quotes - Page 8

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• What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

  James Madison

  Nature, Patriotic, Angel

  1788 The Federalist, Jan.

  22 Copy quote

• Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.

  James Madison

  Real, Lying, Government Lies

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

  16 Copy quote

• Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own.

  James Madison

  Wisdom, Lying, Men

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

  12 Copy quote

• So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.

  James Madison

  Strong, Fall, Passion

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.44

  6 Copy quote

• [A]ll power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from, the people. That government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty and the right of acquiring property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. That the people have an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform or change their government whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purpose of its institution.

  James Madison

  Government, People, Safety

  James Madison (1999). “Writings”

  4 Copy quote

• [T]he powers granted by the proposed Constitution are the gift of the people, and may be resumed by them when perverted to their oppression, and every power not granted thereby remains with the people.

  James Madison

  People, May, Constitution

  James Madison (1904). “The Writings of James Madison: 1787-1790”

  6 Copy quote

• 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 those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the few not for the many.

  James Madison

  Law, Toil, Different

  James Madison, John Jay (1818). “The Federalist: On the New Constitution; Written in 1788, by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison”, p.338

  8 Copy quote

• 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 controul one part from invading the rights of another, and at the same time sufficiently controuled itself, from setting up an interest adverse to that of the entire Society.

  James Madison

  Rights, Government, Different

  James Madison (1867). “1769-1793”, p.353

  16 Copy quote

• Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that, being a natural and unalienable right.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Law, Sacred

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.479

  17 Copy quote

• The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.

  James Madison

  Giving, Liberty, Protection

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

  17 Copy quote

• Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one.

  James Madison

  Real, Government, Public Opinion

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.460

  9 Copy quote

• America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.

  James Madison

  Ambition, America, Soldier

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States”, p.188

  9 Copy quote

• Precedents once established are so much positive power.

  James Madison

  Precedent

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.511

  9 Copy quote

• Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.... Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

  James Madison

  Military, Government, Europe

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.221

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• The civil Government, though bereft of every thing like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability, and performs its functions with complete success; whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the State.

  James Madison

  Government, Religion, Atheism

  "Letters and Other Writings of James Madison".

  21 Copy quote

• Bills of attainder, ex-post facto laws and laws impairing the obligation of contracts are contrary to the first principles of the social compact, and to every principle of sound legislation.

  James Madison

  Law, Sound, Principles

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.207

  4 Copy quote

• The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy. They are more: they are the best basis of public liberty, and the strongest bulwark of public safety. It follows, that the greater the proportion of this class to the whole society, the more free, the more independent, and the more happy must be the society itself.

  James Madison

  Independent, Class, Safety

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.12, University of Virginia Press

  4 Copy quote

• Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.

  James Madison

  Government, Atheism, Liberty

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828”, p.276

  19 Copy quote

• The management of foreign relations appears to be the most susceptible of abuse of all the trusts committed to a Government, because they can be concealed or disclosed, or disclosed in such parts and at such times as will best suit particular views; and because the body of the people are less capable of judging, and are more under the influence of prejudices, on that branch of their affairs, than of any other. Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.

  James Madison

  Real, Home, Loss

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.49, University of Virginia Press

  7 Copy quote

• The sober people of America are weary of the fluctuating policy which has directed the public councils. They have seen with regret and indignation that sudden changes and legislative interferences, in cases affecting personal rights, become jobs in the hands of enterprising and influential speculators, and snares to the more-industrious and less informed part of the community. They have seen, too, that one legislative interference is but the first link of a long chain of repetitions, every subsequent interference being naturally produced by the effects of the preceding.

  James Madison

  Trust, Jobs, Regret

  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.266, Madison & Adams Press

  5 Copy quote

• Procrastination in the beginning and precipitation towards the conclusion is the characteristic of such bodies.

  James Madison

  Procrastination, Body, Characteristics

  19 Copy quote

• It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.

  James Madison

  Reflection, Men, Hands

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.166

  8 Copy quote

• As the people of the United States enjoy the great merit of having established a system of Government on the basis of human rights, and of giving it a form without example, which, as they believe, unites the greatest national strength with the best security for public order and individual liberty, they owe to themselves, to their posterity and to the world, a preservation of the system in its purity, its symmetry, and its authenticity.

  James Madison

  Believe, Rights, Government

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.138

  10 Copy quote

• No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time.

  James Madison

  Religious, Party, Men

  "Federalist No. 10". Essay by James Madison, November 22, 1787.

  5 Copy quote

• Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that being a natural and unalienable right. To guard a man's house as his castle, to pay public and enforce private debts with the most exact faith, can give no title to invade a man's conscience, which is more sacred than his castle, or to withhold from it that debt of protection for which the public faith is pledged by the very nature and original conditions of the social pact.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Men, Law

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.479

  12 Copy quote

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