james-madison Quotes About political

Source: The Fœderalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Fœderal Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. With an Historical Introduction and Notes

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.”

Men Persons Government Political Politics Liberty Opinion Safe Property Possession Faculty Excess Property Rights

Book:1829-1836

Source: 1829-1836

“The truth was that all men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.”

“There is no maxim, in my opinion, which is more liable to be misapplied, and which, therefore, more needs elucidation, than the current one, that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong.”

Needs Political Interest Liberty Opinion Standards Majority Currents Maxims Liable

Book:James Madison's

Source: James Madison's

“Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.”

Done Light Political Liberty Darkness Permit Tyrants Despotism Firmament

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.”

States Political United Liberty United States Permanent Operations Sincere Promoting Political Systems Reconstruction Steadfast Steadfastness

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

“We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”

Whole God Government Truth Political Nations Religious Freedom Moral Principles Knowledge Ten Bible Capacity Constitution Commandments Us History Ten Commandments Moral Principles

Author:James Madison

“The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting Usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity.”

Source: The forging of American federalism: selected writings of James Madison

“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.”

States Political Religious Perfect United Liberty United States Rights Features Peculiar Political Systems Sects Religious Liberty Religious Sects

Book:1816-1828

Source: 1816-1828

“The aim of every political Constitution, is or ought to be first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.”

Men Firsts Political Next Politics Common Liberty Virtue Trust Ought Constitution Aim Pursue Virtuous Rulers Common Good Precaution Public Trust

Book:The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus

Source: The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus

“It is superfluous to try by the standards of theory, a part of the constitution which is allowed on all hands to be the result not of theory, but "of a spirit of amity, and that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable" . . . the equal vote allowed to each state, is at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sovereignty remaining in the individual states, and an instrument for preserving that residuary sovereignty.”

“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.”

Source: James Madison's

“Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.”

Would Be Political Wish Freedom Animal Liberty Fire Air Essentials Agency Folly Destructive Abolish Impart Annihilation Factions Federalist Political Life Federalist Papers Animal Life

Author:James Madison

“But cool and candid people will at once reflect, that the purest of human blessings must have a portion of alloy in them, that the choice must always be made, if not of the lesser evil, at least of the GREATER, not the PERFECT good; and that in every political institution, a power to advance the public happiness, involves a discretion which may be misapplied and abused.”

People Ifs Humans May Made Political Choices Evil Perfect Greater Blessing Institutions Portions Discretion Candid Lesser Evil Political Institutions

Book:The Fœderalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Fœderal Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. With an Historical Introduction and Notes

Source: The Fœderalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favor of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Fœderal Convention, September 17, 1787. Reprinted from the Original Text. With an Historical Introduction and Notes

“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.”

Source: The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus

“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.”

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“The safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political institutions aim, and to which all such institutions must be sacrificed.”

Happiness Political Objects Aim Safety Institutions Political Institutions

Book:The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus

Source: The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus

“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.”

Political Politics Enlightened Statesmen Federalist Federalist Papers Helm Limiting Freedom

Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788, by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Jay: 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, with the Amendments Made Thereto

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788, by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Jay: 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, with the Amendments Made Thereto

“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.”

“In republican government the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this . . . is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them by different modes of election, and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions, and their common dependence on the society, will admit.”

Littles Different Government Action Political Common Principles Republican Authority Function Election Connected Branches Divides Remedy Dependence Legislature Republican Government

Book:The Federalist

Source: The Federalist

“[A] mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands.”

Hands Government Political Limits Mere Sufficient Department Concentration Encroachment

Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into different interests and parties.”

“But the most deplorable effect of all, is that diminution of attachment and reverence, which steals into the hearts of the people, towards a political system which betrays so many marks of infirmity, and disappoints so many of their flattering hopes. No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected, without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.”

Source: The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution

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