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Constitution Quotes

“The honest and serious student of American history will recall that our Founding Fathers managed to write both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution without using the term 'democracy' even once. No part of any of the existing state Constitutions contains any reference to the word. [The men] who were most influential in the institution and formulation of our government refer to 'democracy' only to distinguish it sharply from the republican form of our American Constitutional system.”

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Author:Clarence Manion
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“A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against the enterprise of an aspiring prince”

FormFreedomArmsBalanceCapableConstitutionPropertyEnterprisePossessedStubbornNobilityAssemblyTenacious
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“The constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those ... who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public philanthropy. ... I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.”

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Author:Franklin Pierce
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“That which most contributes to the permanence of constitutions is the adaptation of education to the form of government, and yet in our own day this principle is universally neglected. The best laws, though sanctioned by every citizen of the state, will be of no avail unless the young are trained by habit and education in the spirit of the constitution.”

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Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“In the Laws it is maintained that the best constitution is made up of democracy and tyranny, which are either not constitutions at all, or are the worst of all. But they are nearer the truth who combine many forms; for the constitution is better which is made up of more numerous elements. The constitution proposed in the Laws has no element of monarchy at all; it is nothing but oligarchy and democracy, leaning rather to oligarchy.”

MadeGovernmentFormLawDemocracyWorstElementsConstitutionTyrannyMonarchyOligarchy
Book:Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens
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“The goodness or badness, justice or injustice, of laws varies of necessity with the constitution of states. This, however, is clear, that the laws must be adapted to the constitutions. But if so, true forms of government will of necessity have just laws, and perverted forms of government will have unjust laws.”

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Book:Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens
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“The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now. They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.”

PeopleIfsMayGovernmentFormLibertyVirtuePureConstitutionFoundationInspiredLastingRulersFoundingForms Of GovernmentOur Founding FathersAmerican RevolutionUs Founding FathersBe InspiredAmerican GovernmentFree GovernmentFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersMorality And ReligionMoral Virtues
Author:John Adams
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“Were I to define the British constitution, therefore, I should say, it is a limited monarchy, or a mixture of the three forms of government commonly known in the schools, reserving as much of the monarchical splendor, the aristocratical independency, and the democratical freedom, as are necessary that each of these powers may have a control, both in legislation and execution, over the other two, for the preservation of the subject's liberty.”

ShouldMayTwoGovernmentSchoolFormThreeKnownLibertySubjectsConstitutionBritishExecutionLegislationPreservationMixturesMonarchySplendorForms Of GovernmentBritish Constitution
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“There is no good government but what is republican. That the only valuable part of the British constitution is so; for the true idea of a republic is "an empire of laws, and not of men." That, as a republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangement of the powers of society, or in other words, that form of government which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of the law, is the best of republics.”

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Author:John Adams
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“So what's the difference between republican and democratic forms of government? John Adams captured the essence of the difference when he said, 'You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.' Nothing in our Constitution suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights.”

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Book:Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays
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“The only thing we took out was the Constitution of the State of Mississippi and the interpretation of the Constitution. We had 63,000 people registered on the Freedom Registration form. And we tried from every level to go into the regular Democratic Party medium. We tried from the precinct level. The 16th of June when they were holding precinct meetings all across the state, I was there and there was eight of us there to attend the meeting, and they had the door locked at 10 o'clock in the morning. This is what's happening in the State of Mississippi.”

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Author:Fannie Lou Hamer
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“It's very important to face the grief, face the anger, and then get into a place where you are ready to fight because if you go back to the history of the United States of America, our Founders said we're giving you a Republic if you can keep it, and they also said we have a Constitution and we're going to form a more perfect union.”

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Author:Barbara Boxer
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“Cumulatively, American society is sliding toward a new form of 'authoritarian democracy'. Elections continue, free speech is generally protected, institutions operate in accordance with the Constitution, but the reality of state - society relations is dramatically altered by the counter-terrorist claims of emergency rule and the right of exception.”

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Author:Richard A. Falk
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“'Empathy' is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want. It represents an expansive view of the judiciary in which courts create policy that couldn't pass the legislative branch or, if it did, would generate voter backlash.”

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Author:Karl Rove
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“The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scripture ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.”

FormLawMoralPrinciplesOughtBasesConstitutionScriptureOur Founding FathersFounding Fathers ChristianMoral PrinciplesMoral LawChristian HeritageReligion And Government
Book:History of the United States: to which is prefixed a brief historical account of our [English] ancestors, from the dispersion at Babel, to their migration to America, and of the conquest of South America, by the Spaniards
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“The legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth; for the neglect of education does harm to the constitution. The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives. For each government has a peculiar character which originally formed and which continues to preserve it. The character of democracy creates democracy, and the character of oligarchy creates oligarchy.”

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Book:The Essential Aristotle
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“Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

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Book:Little Brother
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“The preamble to the Constitution states: "We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare..." It doesn't say "guarantee the general welfare." And it certainly doesn't say "give welfare benefits to all the people in the country who aren't doing so well even if the reason they aren't doing so well is because they're sitting on their butts in front of the TV".”

PeopleIfsGivingWellsCountryStatesReasonFormOrderJusticePerfectUnitedCommonUnited StatesFrontsTvsBenefitsSittingConstitutionUnionsWelfareGuaranteesDefenceTranquillityGeneral WelfarePreamble
Author:P. J. O'Rourke
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“The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws . . . The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his Apostles . . . This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.”

GovernmentFormLawChristLibertyMoralChristianityPrinciplesOughtBasesConstitutionScriptureGenuine4th Of JulyApostlesCivil LibertiesMoral PrinciplesChristian Heritage
Author:Noah Webster
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“The chemical differences among various species and genera of animals and plants are certainly as significant for the history of their origins as the differences in form. If we could define clearly the differences in molecular constitution and functions of different kinds of organisms, there would be possible a more illuminating and deeper understanding of question of the evolutionary reactions of organisms than could ever be expected from morphological considerations.”

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Author:Ray Lankester
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“It is for the good of nations, and not for the emolument or aggrandizement of particular individuals, that government ought to be established, and that mankind are at the expense of supporting it. The defects of every government and constitution both as to principle and form, must, on a parity of reasoning, be as open to discussion as the defects of a law, and it is a duty which every man owes to society to point them out.”

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Book:Paine: Political Writings
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“The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.”

MayHandsFormPleaseShapesConstitutionMerePatrioticTwistsJudiciaryOligarchyConstitution Of The United StatesUs ConstitutionJudicial BranchJudicial Review
Book:Memoirs, Correspondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the United States
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“The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers' abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible's teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual. This same sense of man patterned the convictions of those who framed the English system of law inherited by our own Nation, as well as the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”

MenWellsGodFormLawFoundFatherIndividualBeliefNationsReligiousRightsTeachingBibleIdealsDignityBasesConstitutionIndependenceConvictionInherentDeclarationFoundingAbidingUs HistoryDeclaration Of IndependenceFramedImplicitIndividual RightsInalienable Rights
Book:Ronald Reagan
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“English character and English freedom depend comparatively little on the form which the Constitution assumes at Westminster. A centralised democracy may be as tyrannical as an absolute monarch; and if the vigour of the nation is to continue unimpaired, each individual, each family, each district, must preserve as far as possible its independence, its self-completeness, its powers and its privilege to manage its own affairs and think its own thoughts.”

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Book:Short Studies on Great Subjects: Second series
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“The important distinction so well understood in America between a constitution established by the people, and unalterable by the government; and a law established by the government, and alterable by the government, seems to have been little understood and less observed in any other country. Wherever the supreme power of legislation has resided, has been supposed to reside also, a full power to change the form of government.”

PeopleWellsLittlesHas BeensImportantCountrySeemsGovernmentAmericaFormLawHuman NatureUnderstoodConstitutionSupremeDistinctionOther CountriesLegislationForms Of GovernmentPower To ChangeSupreme Power
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788
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“We cannot conceive how the Foetus is form'd in the Womb, nor as much as how a Plant springs from the Earth we tread on ... And if we are ignorant of the most obvious things about us, and the most considerable within our selves, 'tis then no wonder that we know not the constitution and powers of the creatures, to whom we are such strangers.”

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Author:Joseph Glanvill
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“The provisions of the Constitution are not mathematical formulas having their essence in their form; they are organic, living institutions transplanted from English soil. Their significance is vital, not formal; it is to be gathered not simply by taking the words and a dictionary, but by considering their origin and the line of their growth.”

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Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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“A government of our own is our natural right; and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance.”

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Book:Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion
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“[T]o preserve the republican form and principles of our Constitution and cleave to the salutary distribution of powers which that [the Constitution] has established . . . are the two sheet anchors of our Union. If driven from either, we shall be in danger of foundering.”

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Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
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“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.”

FirstsMayBodyHandsGovernmentLastsFormLawPrinciplesOne ThingConstitutionFundamentalsSeparationDependentExecutivesSubordinatesFundamental PrinciplesSeparation Of Powers
Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution
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“The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy the gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people; then shall we both deserve and enjoy it. While on the other hand, if we are universally vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Constitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall in reality be the most abject slaves.”

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Author:Samuel Adams
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