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Quote by James Madison

“[T]he great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachment of the others.”

Author

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

“It is one thing to be subordinate to the laws, and another [for the Executive] to be dependent on the legislative body. The first comports with, the last violates, the fundamental principles of good government; and, whatever may be the forms of the Constitution, unites all power in the same hands.”

Firsts May Body Hands Government Lasts Form Law Principles One Thing Constitution Fundamentals Separation Dependent Executives Subordinates Fundamental Principles Separation Of Powers

Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution

Source: The Federalist on the New Constitution

“The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes.”

Source: The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private

“The same rule that teaches the propriety of a partition between the various branches of power, teaches us likewise that this partition ought to be so contrived as to render the one independent of the other.”

Teach Ought Independent Various Separation Branches Propriety Partition Separation Of Powers

Book: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

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

“There are men who could neither be distressed nor won into a sacrifice of their duty; but this stern virtue is the growth of few soils: And in the main it will be found, that a power over a man's support is a power over his will.”

Men Found Growth Support Virtue Sacrifice Duty Separation Soil Separation Of Powers

Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution

Source: The Federalist on the New Constitution

“No country can be called free which is governed by an absolute power; and it matters not whether it be an absolute royal power or an absolute legislative power, as the consequences will be the same to the people.”

People Country Matter Consequence Absolutes Separation Royal Absolute Power Separation Of Powers

Book:Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion

Source: Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion

“We repose an unwise confidence in any government, or in any men, when we invest them officially with too much, or an unnecessary quantity of, discretionary power.”

Men Government Too Much Separation Quantity Unnecessary Repose Unwise Separation Of Powers

Book:The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine

Source: The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine