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Quote by Alexander Hamilton

“[T]he Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give place to the Constitution. But this doctrine is not deducible from any circumstance peculiar to the plan of convention, but from the general theory of a limited Constitution.”

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

Work

The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers

This book delves into The Federalist Papers, providing a contemporary analysis of the original texts that shaped the United States Constitution. It examines the arguments and debates surrounding the creation of the federal government, offering readers a deeper understanding of the principles and values upon which the nation was built. more

Author

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father of the United States, born on January 11, 1757, and died on July 12, 1804. He played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War and was instrumental in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton promoted fiscal stability and economic growth, establishing the First Bank of the United States and proposing solutions for federal debt. His ideas and policies had a profound impact on the early political and economic development of the United States. more

“The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the words are susceptible of two different senses, the one strict, the other more enlarged, that should be adopted, which is most consonant with the apparent objects and intent of the Constitution.”

Source: Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.”

Men Should May Mean Made Law Understanding Pleasure Common Ordinary Common Sense Metaphysical Subtlety

Book:Selected letters of Thomas Jefferson

Source: Selected letters of Thomas Jefferson

“The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption - a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who opposed it, and who opposed it merely lest the construction should be applied which they denounced as possible.”

People Should States Found Understanding President United United States Honest Safe Constitution Unions Explanation Construction Adoption

Author:Thomas Jefferson

“The best reason to be assigned, in this case, for not having made the Constitution more free from a charge of uncertainty in its meaning, is believed to be, that it was not suspected that any such charge would ever take place; and it appears that no such charge did take place, during the early period of the Constitution, when the meaning of its authors could be best ascertained, nor until many of the contemporary lights had in the lapse of time been extinguished. How often does it happen, that a notoriety of intention diminishes the caution against its being misunderstood or doubted!”