Quotessence
Home / Authors / James Madison
James Madison

James Madison Quotes

4th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllGovernmentLibertyPeopleFederalist PapersConstitutionStatesMenMayFederalistRightsIfsLawPropertyCitizensInterestPoliticalObjectsOughtReligiousHas Beens

Famous James Madison Quotes

“It may not be improper, however, to remark two consequences, evidently flowing from an extension of the federal power to every subject falling within the idea of the "general welfare." One consequence must be, to enlarge the sphere of discretion allotted to the executive magistrate... The other consequence would be, that of an excessive augmentation of the offices, honors, and emoluments, depending on the executive will.”

MayTwoIdeasWould BeFallSubjectsHonorOfficeConsequenceWelfareExecutivesSpheresExtensionsRemarksDiscretionMagistratesGeneral Welfare
Author:James Madison
Create image

“THE Constitution proposed by the convention may be considered under two general points of view. The FIRST relates to the sum or quantity of power which it vests in the government, including the restraints imposed on the States. The SECOND, to the particular structure of the government, and the distribution of this power among its branches.”

FirstsMayTwoStatesGovernmentViewsParticularConstitutionStructureIncludingPoint Of ViewRelateBranchesConventionsQuantityRestraintDistributionVests
Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution
Create image

“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 the bands of Society. If it be difficult to execute any law which is not generally deemed necessary or salutary, what must be the case, where it is deemed invalid and dangerous? And what may be the effect of so striking an example of impotency in the Government, on its general authority?”

IfsMayGovernmentLawDifficultCasesEffectsDangerousExampleCitizensBandAuthorityProportionSanctionsObnoxious
Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
Create image

“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 in his religious opinions, and in the profession and practice dictated by them. He has an equal property in the free use of his faculties and free choice of the objects on which to employ them. In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.”

MenMaySaidUseValuesChoicesReligiousOpinionPracticeRightsObjectsCommunicationEqualPropertyProfessionLatterFacultyPeculiarProperty RightsFree Choice
Author:James Madison
Create image

“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.”

PeopleIfsMayPersonsDifferentBodyGovernmentFormPoliticalPoliticsNamesPleasurePrinciplesPeriodsRepublicanOfficeBehaviorRepublicResortsCriteriaForms Of GovernmentGood BehaviorRepublican Government
Book:The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus
Create image

“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 obligations to their constituents, and prove unfaithful to their important trust.”

MayImportantGovernmentForgetRepublicanProveDegreesObligationMisfortunesIncidentsConstituentsUnfaithfulRepublican Government
Book:The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788
Create image

“Nothing has yet been offered to invalidate the doctrine that the meaning of the Constitution may as well be ascertained by the Legislative as by the Judicial authority.”

WellsMayAuthorityConstitutionSeparationDoctrineJudicialSeparation Of Powers
Book:The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution
Create image

“To what expedient then shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government, as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.”

MayMeanGovernmentFoundGivenAnswersPracticeConstitutionRelationStructureSeparationDepartmentMutualInteriorsDefectsResortsMaintainingProvisionInadequateConstituentsExteriorPartitionSeparation Of Powers
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
Create image

“It is not certain that with this aid alone [possession of arms], they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to posses the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will, and direct the national force; and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned, in spite of the legions which surround it.”

PeopleMayGovernmentWould BeAbleCertainForceArmsEuropeAdvantageDirectPossessionAidsTyrannyLocalsChosenShakesSpiteSurroundOfficersAmendmentsThronesAssuranceSecond AmendmentYokeMilitiaLegionFederalist2 AmendmentLocal GovernmentPosse
Author:James Madison
Create image

“If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare... they may appoint teachers in every state... The powers of Congress would subvert the very foundation, the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America.”

PeopleIfsMayStatesGovernmentAmericaTeacherFoundationCongressWelfareLimited GovernmentGeneral Welfare
Book:The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution
Create image

“It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued; and that no form of government whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object.”

PeopleMayRealBodyGovernmentFormValuesForgetObjectsPoliticianSupremeWelfarePursuedAttainmentForms Of GovernmentPublic Good
Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
Create image

“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.”

MayWholeLibertyClassGreaterSocietyCitizensBasesIndependentSafetyProportionStrongestPublic Safety
Book:James Madison's
Create image

“Who does not see that . . . the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?”

MayDoeStatesThreeForceChurchCasesSupportCitizensAuthorityPropertyEstablishmentConformSeparation Of Church And StateSeparation Between Church And StateFederalist Papers
Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
Create image