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Quote by James Madison

Work

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

This book is a collection of essays and documents that discuss and defend the proposed United States Constitution. It includes the original text of the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, and appendices with letters exchanged between Pacificus and Helvidius regarding the 1793 proclamation of neutrality. The work is considered a cornerstone of American political thought. 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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“[Regarding legislative assemblies,] the number ought at most to be kept within a certain limit, in order to avoid the confusion and intemperance of a multitude. In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever characters composed, passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.”

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Book:The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States
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“For the same reason that the members of the State legislatures will be unlikely to attach themselves sufficiently to national objects, the members of the federal legislature will be likely to attach themselves too much to local objects.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“But they have two other Rights; those of sitting when they please, and as long as they please, in which methinks they have the advantage of your Parliament; for they cannot be dissolved by the Breath of a Minister, or sent packing as you were the other day, when it was your earnest desire to have remained longer together.”

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Book:Memoirs of the life and writings of Benjamin Franklin ...
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“The people can never willfully betray their own interests: But they may possibly be betrayed by the representatives of the people; and the danger will be evidently greater where the whole legislative trust is lodged in the hands of one body of men, than where the concurrence of separate and dissimilar bodies is required in every public act.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“I have appealed to our own experience for the truth of what I advance on this subject [that the legislative power is the predominant power]. Were it necessary to verify this experience by particular proofs, they might be multiplied without end. I might find a witness in every citizen who has shared in, or been attentive to, the course of public administrations.”

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Author:James Madison
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“The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government.”

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