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Quote by Alexander Hamilton

“The truth is, after all the declamations we have heard, that the Constitution is itself, in every rational sense, and to every useful purpose, A BILL OF RIGHTS.”

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

Work

The Federalist Papers: The Making of the US Constitution

Comprising a series of 85 essays, this seminal work discusses the structure and principles of the U.S. government, offering insights into the intentions and philosophies of its framers. 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

“I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?”

Done Rights Dangerous Accounts Constitution Claims Bills Various Granted Exception Unnecessary Bill Of Rights Pretext Federalist Federalist Papers

Book:The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government

Source: The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government

“I did some research once on the way people in the past imagined the year 2000. They tended to picture the things they already had getting more sophisticated - flying cars, self-cleaning windows. And the folks in the early 1900s had a wildly optimistic estimate of the future of pneumatic tubes.”

People Way Years Self Past Car Research Window Folks Flying Optimistic Sophisticated Cleaning Tubes People From The Past Flying Cars

Author:Gail Collins

“As in forming a political society, each individual contributes some of his rights, in order that he may, from a common stock of rights, derive greater benefits, than he could from merely his own; so, in forming a confederation, each political society should contribute such a share of their rights, as will, from a common stock of these rights, produce the largest quantity of benefits for them.”

Should May Political Order Individual Common Greater Rights Share Produce Benefits Quantity Confederation

Book:The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esquire: Late President of the State of Delaware, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Source: The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esquire: Late President of the State of Delaware, and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

“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

“If the people lose control of the arteries of trade and the natural sources of mechanical power, the nationalization of all industry should soon be expected. Our forefathers were alert to resist all encroachments upon their rights. If we wish to maintain our rights, we can do no less.”

People Ifs Should Wish Can Do Loses Natural Rights Source Industry Trade Expected Forefathers Arteries Encroachment

Author:Calvin Coolidge

“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

“An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good.”

People Heart Rights Danger Faults Mere Expenses Popularity Pretense Stale Bait Artifice Public Good

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

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

“[R]ights do not belong to men simply as men, but because of the superior qualities, physical, intellectual, moral or political, which are characteristic of certain individuals or races.”

Men Political Certain Individual Race Quality Moral Rights Intellectual Superiors Characteristics

Book:A History of American Political Theories

Source: A History of American Political Theories

“Every British Subject born on the continent of America, or in any other of the British dominions, is by the law of God and nature, by the common law, and by act of parliament, (exclusive of all charters from the crown) entitled to all the natural, essential, inherent and inseparable rights of our fellow subjects in Great- Britain.”