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Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton Quotes

Founding Father of the United States

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Famous Alexander Hamilton Quotes

“The great leading objects of the federal government, in which revenue is concerned, are to maintain domestic peace, and provide for the common defense.”

GovernmentCommonObjectsConcernedConservativeDefenseFederal GovernmentRevenueCommon Defense
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
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“[E]very act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”

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Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
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“A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.”

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Book:The works of Alexander Hamilton: comprising his correspondence, and his political and official writings, exclusive of the Federalist, civil and military. Published from the original manuscripts deposited in the Department of State, by order of the Joint Library Committee of Congress
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“Upon this law, depend the natural rights of mankind, the supreme being gave existence to man, together with the means of preserving and beatifying that existence. He endowed him with rational faculties, by the help of which, to discern and pursue such things, as were consistent with his duty and interest, and invested him with an inviolable right to personal liberty, and personal safety.”

MenMeanHelpingTogetherLawInterestNaturalExistenceLibertyRightsMankindDutyDependsSafetySupremeRationalPursueConsistentFacultySupreme BeingNatural RightsPersonal LibertyPersonal Safety
Book:The Official and Other Papers of the Late Major-General Alexander Hamilton: Comp. Chiefly from the Originals in the Possession of Mrs. Hamilton ...
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“As you sometimes swear by him that made you, I conclude your sentiments do not correspond with his, in that which is the basis of the doctrine you both agree in: and this makes it impossible to imagine whence this congruity between you arises. "To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules the world and has established laws to regulate the actions of his creatures; and still to assert that man, in a state of nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all restraints of law and government, appears to a common understanding altogether irreconcilable.”

MenWorldMayMadeStillsSometimesStatesGovernmentActionLawUnderstandingCommonImagineImpossibleCreaturesBasesAgreeSupremeAriseDoctrineVotingGrantsSentimentsSwearRestraintLaws And Government
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
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“Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to himself and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of mankind.”

MenHumansAgeLawNaturalWiseRightsMankindTheoryDependsEternalRelationInstitutionsVotingDeitiesLaws Of NatureNatural Rights
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
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“Allow a government to decline paying its debts and you overthrow all public morality-you unhinge all the principles that preserve the limits of free constitutions. Nothing can more affect national prosperity than a constant and systematic attention to extinguish the present debt and to avoid as much as possibly the incurring of any new debt.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“For, when the credit of a country is in any degree questionable, it never fails to give on extravagant premium, in one shape or another, upon all the loans it has occasion to make. Nor does the evil end here; the same disadvantage must be sustained upon whatever is to be bought on terms of future payment. From this constant necessity of borrowing and buying dear, it is easy to conceive how immensely the expenses of a nation, in a course of time, will be augmented by an unsound state of the public credit.”

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Book:Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Prepared in Obedience to the Act of the 10th May, 1800: ... to which are Prefixed, the Reports of Alexander Hamilton, on Public Credit, on a National Bank, on Manufactures, and on the Establishment of a Mint ... Printed by Order of the Senate of the United States
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“To attempt to enumerate the complicated variety of mischiefs in the whole system of the social economy, which proceed from a neglect of the maxims that uphold public credit, and justify the solicitude manifested by the House on this point, would be an improper intrusion on their time and patience.”

WholeWould BeHouseSocialEconomyComplicatedCreditVarietyJustifyNeglectMaximsMischiefIntrusionSolicitudeTime And Patience
Book:Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Prepared in Obedience to the Act of the 10th May, 1800: ... to which are Prefixed, the Reports of Alexander Hamilton, on Public Credit, on a National Bank, on Manufactures, and on the Establishment of a Mint ... Printed by Order of the Senate of the United States
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“In so strong a light, nevertheless, do they appear to the Secretary, that, on their due observance, at the present critical juncture, materially depend, in his judgment, the individual and aggregate prosperity of the citizens of the United States; their relief from the embarrassments they now experience; their character as a people; the cause of good government.”

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Book:Reports of the secretary of the Treasury of the United States
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“Every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government.”

GovernmentIndividualCommunityEqualProtection
Book:The works of Alexander Hamilton: comprising his correspondence, and his political and official writings, exclusive of the Federalist, civil and military. Published from the original manuscripts deposited in the Department of State, by order of the Joint Library Committee of Congress
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“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born, the other the mass of the people. The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in the government.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the state governments will in all possible contingencies afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority.”

MayStatesGovernmentPoliticalLibertySecurityAuthorityInvasionPolitical SystemsAxiomsState GovernmentContingency
Book:The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government
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“The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law. The person of the King of Great Britain is sacred and inviolable: There is no constitutional tribunal to which he is amenable, no punishment to which he can be subjected without involving the crisis of a national revolution.”

PersonsStatesWould BeLawCoursesPresidentUnitedUnited StatesCrimeRevolutionKingsOfficeOrdinaryCrisisSacredConvictionPunishmentBritainInvolvingTreasonLiableGreat BritainProsecutionBriberyTribunalsAmenableMisdemeanorsCrimes And Misdemeanors
Book:The federalist papers
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“The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. In this respect his authority would be nominally the same with that of the king of Great Britain, but in substance much inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the land and naval forces, as first general and admiral ... while that of the British king extends to the declaring of war and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies - all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature.”

FirstsWarStatesWould BeForcePresidentUnitedUnited StatesLandAmountKingsAuthorityConstitutionArmyBritishSupremeCommandChiefsSubstanceBritainConsiderationInferiorsNavyCommandersLegislatureGreat BritainDeclaringNavalCommander In ChiefAdmiral
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution ... by A. Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. With an Appendix Containing the Letters of Pacificus (A. Hamilton) and Helvidius (J. Madison), on the Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793; the Original Articles of Confederation ... Sixth Edition, Etc
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“In this distribution of powers the wisdom of our constitution is manifested. It is the province and duty of the Executive to preserve to the Nation the blessings of peace. The Legislature alone can interrupt those blessings, by placing the Nation in a state of War.”

WarStatesNationsPresidentDutyBlessingConstitutionPreservesExecutivesDistributionLegislatureProvincesDistribution Of Power
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“That this gentleman [President John Adams] ought not to be the object of the federal wish, is, with me, reduced to demonstration. His administration has already very materially disgraced and sunk the government. There are defects in his character which must inevitably continue to do this more and more. And if he is supported by the federal party, his party must in the issue fall with him.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“The safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of the citizens from foreign bias and prejudice; and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education and family.”

CountryFoundPoliticsEnergyCommonPrinciplesDependsBirthHabitCitizensPrejudiceSafetyConnectedSentimentsRepublicBiasUniformityExemptionBias And Prejudice
Book:Citizen Hamilton: The Wit and Wisdom of an American Founder
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“Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature.”

FirstsSelfPrinciplesSurvivalPreservationSelf Preservation
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Miscellanies, 1774-1789: A full vindication; The farmer refuted; Quebec bill; Resolutions in Congress; Letters from Phocion; New-York Legislature, etc
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“The system is the best that the present views and circumstances of the country will permit.”

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Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Comprising His Most Important Official Reports: An Improved Edition of the Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788; and Pacificus, on the Proclamation of Neutrality, Written in 1793 ...
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“When occasions present themselves, in which the interests of the people are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection.”

PeopleGivingPersonsOrderOpportunityInterestDutyReflectionOccasionsDelusionTemporaryInclinationGuardianFederalistFederalist PapersVariance
Book:The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus
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“A garden, you know, is a very usual refuge of a disappointed politician. Accordingly, I have purchased a few acres about nine miles from town, have built a house, and am cultivating a garden.”

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Book:Correspondence [contin.] 1795-1804; 1777; 1791. Letters of H.G. 1789. Address to public creditors. 1790. Vindication of funding system. 1791
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