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Federalist Papers Quotes

“In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects.”

GovernmentInterestReligiousCasesRightsSecurityPositive AtheismCivil RightsSectsMultiplicityFederalistFree GovernmentFederalist PapersReligious Rights
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.”

IfsDoneGovernmentCan DoConstitutionCongressSocialismWelfareFederal GovernmentLegislatureDiscretionPossessingProperty RightsLimited GovernmentFederalistLimiting GovernmentFederalist PapersUs ConstitutionGeneral Welfare
Book:James Madison's
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“Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?”

MayDoeStatesChristianReligionChurchChristianityAtheismParticularAuthorityAtheistEaseChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateSectsExclusionFounding Fathers ChristianFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateFounding Fathers Anti ReligionFederalist PapersFounding Fathers AtheistChristianity From Founding Fathers
Author:James Madison
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“[V]igor of government is essential to the security of liberty.”

GovernmentLibertySecurityEssentialsFederalistFederalist Papers
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
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“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

InspirationalWarNationsParentKnownLibertyEnemyTaxesArmyInstrumentsDebtLibertarianPreservesMidstAnti WarAntiwarLibertarianismWarfareDominationFreedom LibertyGermsNo WarFederalistLimiting GovernmentFederalist PapersPublic EnemiesDebt By Founding Fathers
Author:James Madison
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“With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.”

CharacterGovernmentWould BeLibertyConstitutionDetailsCreatorConnectedLibertarianProofWelfareHostFoundersFederal GovernmentUnlimitedQualifiedFreedom And LibertyLiteralFreedom LibertyProperty RightsLimited GovernmentMetamorphosisFederalistLimiting GovernmentConstitution Of The United StatesFederalist PapersLimited FreedomUs ConstitutionGeneral WelfareLimiting FreedomConstitutional GovernmentStates RightsTyranny Founding FathersPower Government
Author:James Madison
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“A zeal for different opinions concerning religion...[has] divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good.”

DifferentReligionPartyCommonOpinionAtheismMankindMutualDividedZealCommon GoodAnimosityFederalistFederalist PapersDifferent OpinionsVex
Book:The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States
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“The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.”

PeopleLibertyRightsArmsGunLibertarianFakeAmendmentsLibertarianismGun ControlFoundingFreedom And LibertySecond AmendmentFreedom LibertyOur Founding FathersFirearmsUs Founding FathersRight To Bear ArmsBearing ArmsGun RightsFederalistPro GunFederalist PapersFounding Fathers GunHandguns2 AmendmentFounding Fathers Second AmendmentRevolution Founding FathersAmendment 1Pro Gun ControlPatriotic GunAmendment 13Guns In AmericaHandgun Ban
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“...that standing army can never be formidable (threatening) to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in the use of arms.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society.”

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Book:The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution
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“As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other, and the former will be objects to which the latter attach themselves.”

MenLongDifferentSelfReasonPassionLibertyOpinionInfluenceHuman NatureObjectsSelf LoveExerciseConnectionsFormerLatterFederalistReciprocalFederalist PapersDifferent Opinions
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
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“A pure Democracy, by which I mean a Society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the Government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of Government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party, or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is, that such Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths.”

Has BeensPassionFoundFeltInterestPartyCommonDemocracyRightsSacrificeSecurityPureMajorityPropertyViolentChecksCuresMischiefDemocracies HaveFactionsFederalist PapersPersonal Security
Author:James Madison
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“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.”

PeopleGovernmentFormNationsSimpleExistenceArmsAmbitionAdvantageEnterpriseBarriersOfficersAmendmentsFoundingFreedom And LibertySecond AmendmentFreedom LibertySubordinatesRight To Bear ArmsMilitiaBearing ArmsGun RightsFederalistFederalist PapersFounding Fathers GunInsurmountable2 AmendmentFounding Fathers Second AmendmentFramersDisarmingAmerica FreedomGun OwnersAmendment 1Amendment 19Amendment 4Amendment 13Guns In AmericaAmerican Law
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government.”

PeopleIfsSelfGovernmentFormLeftArmsOriginalsDefenseBetrayRepresentativesPatriotFreedom And LibertySelf DefenseForms Of GovernmentSecond AmendmentFreedom LibertyFirearmsConstituentsExertionRight To Bear ArmsParamountBearing ArmsGun RightsFederalistRecourseFederalist PapersFounding Fathers GunHandguns2 AmendmentFounding Fathers Second AmendmentAmendment 1Amendment 4
Book:America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights
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“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty, by allowing them a direct representation in the Senate, and leaves in their possession certain exclusive and very important portions of sovereign power. This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms, with the idea of a federal government.”

ImportantIdeasStatesGovernmentCertainTermDirectConstitutionPossessionRationalAllowingSenatePortionsRepresentationSovereignFederal GovernmentSovereigntyExclusiveAbolitionConstituentsImportsState GovernmentFederalistFederalist PapersFederalismImplyingNational Sovereignty
Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
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“But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm . . . But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.”

StatesGovernmentWould BeDegreesAuthorityMadnessOppositionAmbitiousFederal GovernmentSignalsAlarmsState GovernmentFederalist PapersExtremityEncroachmentFederalism
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it.”

MenWorldDifferentCharacterGodOrderBeliefPowerfulMoralToo MuchWiseSourceEssentialsCapacityArgumentImpressedAdaptedDifferent CharactersFederalistFederalist PapersSolicitude
Book:James Madison's
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“Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.”

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Book:The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution
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“If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.”

PeopleIfsShouldMayDoneUseGovernmentCreaturesAuthorityStandardsConstitutionBoundsTyrannyAppealsInjuryJustifyFederal GovernmentPrudenceFederalistFederalist PapersRedress
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“The smaller the society, the fewer probably will be the distinct parties and interests composing it; the fewer the distinct parties and interests, the more frequently will a majority be found of the same party; . . . the more easily will they concert and execute their plans of oppression.”

FoundInterestPartyPlansMajorityTyrannyOppressionConcertsFewerComposingFederalist Papers
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets.”

SeemsOpportunityGivenJusticePartyNumbersGreaterTaxesPropertyVariousSavedTemptationPocketsDescriptionInferiorsTaxationFederalist PapersImpartiality
Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution
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“Let Americans disdain to be the instruments of European greatness! Let the thirteen States, bound together in a strict and indissoluble Union, concur in erecting one great American system, superior to the control of all transatlantic force or influence, and able to dictate the terms of the connection between the old and the new world!”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.”

Would BePoliticalWishFreedomAnimalLibertyFireAirEssentialsAgencyFollyDestructiveAbolishImpartAnnihilationFactionsFederalistPolitical LifeFederalist PapersAnimal Life
Author:James Madison
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“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?”

DoneRightsDangerousAccountsConstitutionClaimsBillsVariousGrantedExceptionUnnecessaryBill Of RightsPretextFederalistFederalist Papers
Book:The Federalist Papers and the Constitution of the United States: The Principles of the American Government
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“But the mild voice of reason, pleading the cause of an enlarged and permanent interest, is but too often drowned, before public bodies as well as individuals, by the clamors of an impatient avidity for immediate and immoderate gain.”

PeopleWellsReasonBodyIndividualCausesVoiceInterestGainsPermanentImpatientPleadingClamorFederalist PapersVoice Of Reason
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
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“The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.”

PeopleIfsShouldWellsTwoFactsBodyHappensLawCoursesParticularJudgingOughtConstitutionFundamentalsCourtIntentionObligationSuperiorsAgentsInterpretationPeculiarProvincesValidityProceedingJudiciaryStatutesFederalist PapersVariance
Book:The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers
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“[In a democracy] a common passion or interest will, in almost every case , be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert results from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788
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“A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking.”

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Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788
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“The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution. By a limited Constitution, I understand one which contains certain specified exceptions to the legislative authority. Limitations of this kind can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing.”

WayKindCertainJusticePracticeRightsParticularDutyAmountEssentialsAuthorityConstitutionIndependenceCourtPrivilegeContraryMediumsLimitationExceptionManifestVoidReservationsFederalist PapersTenors
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred.”

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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
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