james-madison Quotes About rights

“May it not be asked of every intelligent friend to the liberties of his country, whether the power exercised in such an act as this ought not to produce great and universal alarm? Whether a rigid execution of such an act, in time past, would not have repressed that information and communication among the people which is indispensable to the just exercise of their electoral rights? And whether such an act, if made perpetual, and enforced with rigor, would not, in time to come, either destroy our free system of government, or prepare a convulsion that might prove equally fatal to it?”

Source: 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

“In a free Government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases, will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of People comprehended under the same Government.”

People May Country Government Interest Religious Numbers Cases Rights Security Depends Degrees Civil Rights Sects Multiplicity Free Government Religious Rights

Book:The Federalist

Source: The Federalist

“Measures should be enacted which, without violating the rights of property, would reduce extreme wealth towards a state of mediocrity, and raise extreme indigence towards a state of comfort.”

Should States Law Wealth Rights Comfort Raises Property Extremes Mediocrity

Author:James Madison

“In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate governments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.”

People Firsts Two Different Government America Rights Security Arise Controlled Republic Divided Portions Compounds

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

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

“The American people owe it to themselves, and to the cause of free Government, to prove by their establishments for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge, that their political Institutionsare as favorable to the intellectual and moral improvement of Man as they are conformable to his individual and social rights.”

People Men Government Political Individual Social Causes Education Moral Rights Prove Intellectual Improvement Establishment Advancement Free Government Diffusion

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“[The Republican Party] consists of those who, believing in the doctrine that mankind are capable of governing themselves and hating hereditary power as an insult to the reason and an outrage to the rights of men, are naturally offended at every public measure that does not appeal to the understanding and to the general interest of the community.”

Men Believe Doe Reason Government Hate Understanding Interest Community Party Rights Mankind Republican Capable Doctrine Appeals Insult Republican Party Offended Governing Outrage Hereditary

Book:1829-1836

Source: 1829-1836

“[In government] the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other-that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights.”

May Government Individual Interest Rights Office Aim Constant Checks Divides Sentinels

Book:The Federalist Papers: The Making of the US Constitution

Source: The Federalist Papers: The Making of the US Constitution

“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.”

Source: 1829-1836

“Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.”

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

“Waiving the rights of conscience, not included in the surrender implied by the social state, & more or less invaded by all Religious establishments, the simple question to be decided, is whether a support of the best & purest religion, the Christian religion itself ought not, so far at least as pecuniary means are involved, to be provided for by the Government, rather than be left to the voluntary provisions of those who profess it.”

Mean States Government Christian Left Social Religious Simple Support Rights Ought Involved Conscience Decided Surrender Establishment Provision Implied

Author:James Madison

“Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.”

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

“In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.”

May Rights Danger Respect Majority Minorities Republic

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“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.”

May Liberty Class Rights Citizens Morality Independent Independent Women Public Safety

Book:James Madison's

Source: James Madison's

“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.”

Persons Government Liberty Rights Objects Property Protection Property Rights Individual Rights Constitutional Rights Unalienable Rights

Book:Writings

Source: Writings

“As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.”

Men May Said Government Liberty Rights Property Socialism Freedom And Liberty Freedom Liberty Private Property Property Rights Liberty And Justice Tyranny Founding Fathers Property Ownership

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.”

Men Firsts Government Interest Liberty Rights Objects Diversity Property Obstacles Protection Faculty Uniformity Federalist Papers

Author:James Madison

“Equal laws protecting equal rights…the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.”

Love Country Law Rights Equal And Love Equality Loyalty Guarantees Founding Equal Rights Federalist Papers Love And Loyalty

Author:James Madison

“Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.”

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

“The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of Government. But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”

Men Should Humans May Government Politics Interest Rights Human Nature He Man Reflection Abuse Connected Devices Federalist Federalist Papers Constitutional Rights

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 civil rights of none, shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.”

Belief Religious Liberty Rights Equal Worship Conscience Accounts Civil Rights Equal Rights Religious Belief Bill Of Rights Pretext Religion And Government First Amendment Rights Religious Rights

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: 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

“In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights.”

Government Religious Liberty Rights Security Civil Rights Federalist Free Government Federalist Papers Religious Rights

Book:The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788

Source: The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788

“...to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the States and to the people as equally incorporated with and essential to the success of the general system;... to keep within the requisite limits a standing military force, always remembering that an armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republics-that without standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe.”

“It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to unsurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded agst. by an entire abstinence of the Gov't from interfence in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect agst. trespasses on its legal rights by others.”

“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.”

Source: 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

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism.”

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.”

Force Justice Party Democracy Rights Decided Majority Superiors Minors Overbearing Tyranny Of The Majority Considerate And Caring

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

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

“A pure Democracy, by which I mean a Society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the Government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of Government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party, or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is, that such Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths.”

“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.”

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“Where a majority are united by a common sentiment, and have an opportunity, the rights of the minor party become insecure.”

Opportunity United Party Common Democracy Rights Majority Sentiments Minors Insecure

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“Is it not the glory of the people of America, that whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience? To this manly spirit, posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world for the example of the numerous innovations displayed on the American theatre, in favor of private rights and public happiness.”

Source: The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers

“It becomes all therefore who are friends of a Government based on free principles to reflect, that by denying the possibility of a system partly federal and partly consolidated, and who would convert ours into one either wholly federal or wholly consolidated, in neither of which forms have individual rights, public order, and external safety, been all duly maintained, they aim a deadly blow at the last hope of true liberty on the face of the Earth.”

Government Earth Lasts Faces Form Order Individual Liberty Principles Rights Possibility Aim Safety Blow Individual Rights Federalism

Book:1829-1836

Source: 1829-1836

“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.”

May Different Government Interest Rights Setting Settings Sovereignty Adverse Invading

Book:1769-1793

Source: 1769-1793

“Extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have common motive to invade the rights of other citizens.”

Whole Interest Party Common Greater Rights Citizens Majority Tyranny Variety Motive Spheres Federalist Federalist Papers

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

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

“In civilized communities, property as well as personal rights is an essential object of the laws, which encourage industry by securing the enjoyment of its fruits; that industry from which property results, and that enjoyment which consists not merely in its immediate use, but in its posthumous destination to objects of choice, and of kindred affection. In a just and free government, therefore, the rights both of property and of persons ought to be effectually guarded.”

“If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude and all the other qualities which enoble the character of a nation, and fulfill the ends of Government be the fruits of our establishments, the cause of liberty will acquire a dignity and lustre, which it has never yet enjoyed, and an example will be set, which can not but have the most favorable influence on the rights of Mankind.”

Source: 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

“It is sufficiently obvious, that persons and property are the two great subjects on which Governments are to act; and that the rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. These rights cannot well be separated.”

Wells Persons Two Government Rights Subjects Objects Property Obvious Protection

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“The invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents.”

Government Numbers Rights Majors Instruments Mere Contrary Invasion Property Rights Constituents Federalist Federalist Papers

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“If they are incorporated into the Constitution, independent tribunals of justice will consider themselves in a peculiar manner the guardians of those rights; they will be an impenetrable bulwark against every assumption of power in the legislative or executive; they will be naturally led to resist every encroachment upon rights expressly stipulated for in the Constitution by the declaration of rights.”

Ifs Justice Rights Constitution Independent Assumption Executives Peculiar Declaration Guardian Encroachment Tribunals

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“The definition of the right of suffrage is very justly regarded as a fundamental article of republican government.”

Government Rights Republican Fundamentals Definitions Articles Suffrage Republican Government

Book: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

Source: 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

“The members of the legislative department . . . are numerous. They are distributed and dwell among the people at large. Their connections of blood, of friendship, and of acquaintance embrace a great proportion of the most influential part of the society . . . they are more immediately the confidential guardians of their rights and liberties.”

People Liberty Rights Blood Members Connections Embrace Congress Proportion Department Guardian Acquaintance Influential Legislature Confidential

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

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

“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.”