Best Federalist Papers Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

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

“In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”

Source: The Writings of James Madison: 1787. The journal of the Constitutional convention

“So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.”

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“Pope John Paul II himself was kind of a rather independent, creative man. I remember being told by somebody who worked very close with him in preparation for his first visit to the United States in 1979, he studied our normative documents, Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution. And he was amazed. He called his priests first thing in the morning and he said, he said, I thought America was a pagan country.”

“The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.”

World Has Beens Reason Humanity Errors Debt Oppression Triumph Oppressors Federalist Indebted Federalist Papers Political Oppression

Book:Resolutions of Virginia and Kentucky

Source: Resolutions of Virginia and Kentucky

“The people that say diversity is the reason for the greatness are purposely assaulting the United States as founded. They want you to believe that America was only great for a few people as founded, because, as founded, America was gigantically discriminating against the poor and against people of color and against transgenders. Yeah, I've read the Federalist Papers, you know. James Madison, he wasn't popular with the transgender group back then. Did you know that? You won't find the word. It was not a factor, the way they have attempted to modernize things here today. It's just lies.”

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.”

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

“It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”

Source: James Madison's

“The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.”

People Government Politics Liberty Branches Fountain Charter Federalist Papers Constitutional Government Branches Of Government Power Government Legitimate Power

Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788

“Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.”

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.”

Persons Government Numbers Liberty Democracy Society Citizens Pure Patriotic Small Numbers Federalist Papers Amending The Constitution

Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788

“As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed.”

Men Long Different Reason Liberty Opinion Exercise Federalist Federalist Papers Fallibility Different Opinions

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

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

“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.”

Men Firsts Government Interest Liberty Rights Objects Diversity Property Obstacles Protection Faculty Uniformity Federalist Papers

Author:James Madison

“What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”

“To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.”

World Has Beens Reason Humanity Media Abuse Presses Errors Oppression Triumph Freedom Of The Press Federalist Indebted Federalist Papers Political Oppression

Book:Resolutions of Virginia and Kentucky

Source: Resolutions of Virginia and Kentucky

“The framers of the Constitution were so clear in the federalist papers and elsewhere that they felt an independent judiciary was critical to the success of the nation.”

Nations Felt Clear Paper Constitution Independent Critical Elsewhere Papers Judiciary Federalist Federalist Papers Framers Independent Judiciary

Author:Sandra Day O'Connor

“It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country to decide, by their conduct and example, the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.”

Source: The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Comprising His Most Important Official Reports: An Improved Edition of the Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788; and Pacificus, on the Proclamation of Neutrality, Written in 1793 ...

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

Source: The Origin of the Nation: Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Other Amendments, Federalist Papers & Common Sense: Creating America - Landmark Documents that Shaped a New Nation

“Equal laws protecting equal rights…the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.”

Love Country Law Rights Equal And Love Equality Loyalty Guarantees Founding Equal Rights Federalist Papers Love And Loyalty

Author:James Madison

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”