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Quote by James Madison

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The Federalist: On the New Constitution, Written in 1788

Comprising a series of 85 essays, this seminal work discusses the structure and principles of the new American government established by the Constitution of the United States, originally published in 1788. more

Author

James Madison
James Madison

James Madison, the 4th President of the United States, was born on March 16, 1751, and died on June 28, 1836. He was a key figure in drafting the U.S. Constitution and had a profound impact on the political system of the United States. more

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“The public affairs of the union are spread throughout a very extensive region, and are extremely diversified by the local affairs connected with them, and can with difficulty be learnt in any other place, than in the central councils, to which a knowledge of them will be brought by the representatives of every part of the empire. Yet some knowledge of the affairs, and even of the laws of all the states, ought to be possessed by the members from each of the states.”

StatesLawOughtMembersDifficultyUnionsAffairSpreadConnectedLocalsEmpiresRegionsPossessedRepresentativesCouncilFederalismPublic Affairs
Book:Selected Federalist Papers
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“The appointment of senators by the state legislatures . . . is recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select appointment, and of giving to the state governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government, as must secure the authority of the former.”

GivingStatesGovernmentAuthorityAdvantageSecureFormerAgencySenatorsFederal GovernmentSelectFormationLegislatureAppointmentsState GovernmentFederalismState Legislatures
Book:Selected Writings of James Madison
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“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.”

TryingStatesHandsPoliticalSpiritIndividualResultsSituationTheoryEqualStandardsVoteConstitutionInstrumentsRecognitionMutualPortionsIndispensableSovereigntySuperfluousConcessionsDeferenceFederalismAmity
Author:James Madison
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“Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the constitution of a senate, is the additional impediment it must prove against improper acts of legislation. No law or resolution can now be passed without the concurrence first of a majority of the people, and then of a majority of the states.”

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Book:America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights
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“That useful alterations will be suggested by experience, could not but be foreseen . . . . It moreover equally enables the general and state governments to originate the amendment of errors as they may be pointed out by the experience on one side or on the other.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“I confess I am at a loss to discover what temptation the persons entrusted with the administration of the general government could ever feel to divest the States of the authorities of that description. The regulation of the mere domestic police of a State appears to me to hold out slender allurements to ambition.”

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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
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“The administration of private justice between the citizens of the same state, the supervision of agriculture and of other concerns of a similar nature, all those things in short which are proper to be provided for by local legislation, can never be desirable cares of a general jurisdiction . . . the attempt to exercise these powers would be as troublesome as it would be nugatory; and the possession of them, for that reason, would contribute nothing to the dignity, to the importance, or to the splendour of the national government.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“The variety of more minute interests, which will necessarily fall under the superintendence of the local administrations . . . cannot be particularized without involving a detail too tedious and uninteresting to compensate for the instruction it might afford.”

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