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Framers Quotes

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Framers Quotes

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Inspirational Giving Littles War Happiness Politics Peace Freedom Liberty Rights Politician Essentials Giving Up Deserve Safety Libertarian Temporary Insightful Censorship Amendments Founding 4th Of July Inventor Given Up Freedom And Liberty Deserving Second Amendment Freedom Liberty Civil Liberties Our Founding Fathers Property Rights Limited Government Us Founding Fathers Right To Bear Arms Forefathers Bearing Arms Obtaining American Government Limiting Government Rights And Freedoms Founding Fathers Of America Founding America Pro Gun Libertarian Party Founding Fathers Gun Limited Freedom 2 Amendment Eternal Vigilance Founding Fathers Second Amendment Founding Fathers Democracy Framers Liberty And Justice Independence Day Patriotic Democracy Freedom Price Of Freedom American Freedom Safety And Security Polymaths Corrupt Government Gun Safety Power Government Security And Freedom American Power American Independence Day Security And Liberty First Amendment Rights

Book:Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818

Source: Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818

“Americans - not just starting thirty years ago but going back to the beginning, when we were rebelling against King George - we've always been of two minds about the government, which is why the framers wrote the Constitution the way they did.”

Way Years Mind Two Government Kings Years Ago Constitution Starting Thirty Thirty Years Framers Two Minds

Author:William J. Clinton

“That, in part, is why the Constitution's framers gave justices life tenure ? to enable them to rule wherever the law and the Constitution led them, without obligation or fear of political reprisal. Former Republican president Gerald Ford recently paid tribute to John Paul Stevens, his only appointee to the Supreme Court, who is also far more liberal than Republicans expected. He has served his nation well, ... with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.”

“The very inclusion of the right to keep and bear arms in the Bill of Rights shows that the framers of the Constitution considered it an individual right.”

Shows Individual Rights Arms Bears Constitution Bills Inclusion Bill Of Rights Framers

Author:Samuel Ray Cummings

“As you know, I have over the years written critically about the U.N. I have consistently stressed in my writings that American leadership is critical to the success of the U.N., an effective U.N., one that is true to the original intent of its charter's framers.”

Knows Writing Years Written Criticism Originals Critical Consistently Stressed Charter Framers American Leadership

Author:John Bolton

“The Framers of the First Amendment were not concerned with preventing government from abridging their freedom to speak about crops and cockfighting, or with protecting the expressive activity of topless dancers, which of late has found some shelter under the First Amendment. Rather, the Framers cherished unabridged freedom of political communication.”

Source: With a Happy Eye, But...: America and the World, 1997--2002

“The property qualifications for federal office that the framers of the Constitution expressly chose to exclude for demonstrating an unseemly "veneration of wealth " are now de facto in force and higher than the Founding Fathers could have imagined.”

Father Force Wealth Higher Office Constitution Property Founding Qualifications Demonstrating Veneration Framers

Author:Bill Moyers

“Almighty Framer of the Skies!O let our pure devotion rise,Like Incense in thy Sight!Wrapt in impenetrable Shade,The Texture of our Souls were made,Till thy Command gave Light.”

Made Soul Light Sky Pure Sight Devotion Command Shade Almighty Texture Incense Framers

Book:The Poetical Works of Thomas Chatterton: Acknowledged poems. Chatterton's will. Miscellaneous prose works

Source: The Poetical Works of Thomas Chatterton: Acknowledged poems. Chatterton's will. Miscellaneous prose works

“The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.”

America Constitution Patriotic Freedom Of Religion Evangelists Framers Christian Freedom

Author:Billy Graham

“Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right.”

Results Mistake Serious Demand Constitution Agree Court Including Granted Abortion Scholar Framers

Author:Ronald Reagan

“If our free society is to endure, and I know it will, those who govern must recognize that the Framers of the Constitution limited their power in order to preserve human dignity and the air of freedom which is our proudest heritage.”

Ifs Knows Humans Order Air Dignity Constitution Endure Preserves Heritage Free Society Human Dignity Framers

Author:William J. Brennan

“The absence of utopianism in the Constitution, law, and traditional political culture has been ... important in limiting expectations concerning what can be achieved by politics. The history of the last two centuries confirms what the framers of the Constitution understood: that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the search for unalloyed virtue in public life leads to unalloyed terror.”

Has Beens Two Important Lasts Law Political Culture Perfect Enemy Virtue Century Expectations Understood Constitution Terror Absence Traditional Public Life Framers Political Culture

Author:Jeane Kirkpatrick

“The Second Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, was meant to inhibit only the federal government, not the states. The framers, as The Federalist Papers attest (see No. 28), saw the state militias as forces that might be summoned into action against the federal government itself, if it became tyrannical.”

“A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.”

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

“The court's job is to uphold the Constitution and you don't call that off in times of crisis. Would the framers have allowed this practice?”

Jobs Practice Constitution Crisis Court Framers Times Of Crisis

Author:Antonin Scalia

“The framers knew that liberty is a fragile thing, and so should we.”

Should Liberty Fragile Framers Fragile Things

Author:William J. Brennan

“As a framer and defender of the Constitution [Madison] had no peer.”

Constitution Peers Defenders Madison Framers

Author:Garry Wills

“The framers of the constitution employed words in their natural sense; and, where they are plain and clear, resort to collateral aids to interpretation is unnecessary, and cannot be indulged in to narrow or enlarge the text; but where there is ambiguity or doubt, or where two views may well be entertained, contemporaneous and subsequent practical construction is entitled to the greatest weight.”

Wells May Two Law Natural Views Clear Doubt Weight Constitution Aids Practicals Interpretation Construction Unnecessary Entitled Employed Resorts Ambiguity Framers Collateral

Author:Melville Fuller

“A profound transformation is happening here. The framers of our nation never envisioned these huge media giants; never imagined what could happen if big government, big publishing and big broadcasters ever saw eye-to-eye in putting the public's need for news second to their own interests. I approach the end of my own long run believing more strongly than ever that the quality of journalism and the quality of democracy are inextricably joined ... .”

“The Framers [of the Constitution] . . . created the federally protected right of silence and decreed that the law could not be used to pry open one's lips and make him a witness against himself.”

Law Used Silence Constitution Lips Witness Protected Framers

Author:William O. Douglas

“It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of Constitutional history... The establishment clause has been expressly freighted with Jefferson's misleading metaphor for nearly forty years... There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the framers intended to build a wall of separation... The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or intent of the framers.”

“The Constitution's framers intended to restrict central authority to the few areas that could not be handled by states. The drafters would be horrified at how the present court misapplies what they designed.”

States Would Be Authority Areas Constitution Court Framers

Author:Doug Bandow

“When a judge goes beyond [his proper function] and reads entirely new values into the Constitution, values the framers and ratifiers did not put there, he deprives the people of their liberty. That liberty, which the Constitution clearly envisions, is the liberty of the people to set their own social agenda through the process of democracy.”

People Values Social Process Liberty Democracy Judging Function Constitution Agendas Framers

Author:Robert Bork

“Until the 1930s, the Constitution served as a major constraint on federal economic interventionism. The government's powers were understood to be just as the framers intended: few and explicitly enumerated in our founding document and its amendments. Search the Constitution as long as you like, and you will find no specific authority conveyed for the government to spend money on global-warming research, urban mass transit, food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicaid, or countless other items in the stimulus package and, even without it, in the regular federal budget.”

“While the machinery of law enforcement and indeed the nature of crime itself have changed dramatically since the Fourth Amendment became part of the Nation's fundamental law in 1791, what the Framers understood then remains true today - that the task of combating crime and convicting the guilty will in every era seem of such critical and pressing concern that we may be lured by the temptations of expediency into forsaking our commitment to protecting individual liberty and privacy.”

“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.”

“The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”

Source: The portable Thomas Jefferson

“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”

“Republicans, supposed defenders of limited government, actually are enablers of an unlimited presidency. Their belief in strict construction of the Constitution evaporates, and they become, in behavior if not in thought, adherents of the woolly idea of a 'living Constitution.' They endorse, by their passivity, the idea that new threats justify ignoring the Framers' text and logic about shared responsibility for war-making.”

“We don't care what the framers would have thought of violent video games. Times are changing.”

Care Games Don't Care Violent Video Framers Times Are Changing Violent Video Games Game Time

Author:Dahlia Lithwick

“You can understand why the original framers of judicial ethics thought it would be undignified and would call into question the legitimacy of the judicial decision-making process to have mudslinging by judges, but the way that we hobble people of enormous integrity from defending themselves is, I think, deeply problematic in states where you have an elected judiciary, or a judge is subject to recall.”

“I think [Louis] Brandeis challenges all of the current justices. As he said, "If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold." You have to take the values that the framers were concerned about and translate them into this new age.”

Ifs Thinking Mind Said Reason Light Age Values Challenges Justice Concerned Currents Guides Translate New Age Framers Louis Brandeis

Author:Jeffrey Rosen

“I think he's [Louis Brandeis] a great model for progressive justices today who want to answer the originalists. It's not that the original paradigm cases are irrelevant, but you have to focus on the values the framers were trying to protect, not on the means with which those values were invaded in the 18th century.”

Thinking Want Trying Mean Today Values Justice Answers Cases Focus Century Protect Models Originals Progressive Irrelevant Paradigm 18th Century Framers Louis Brandeis

Author:Jeffrey Rosen

“In my opinion, Chief Justice Roberts put it best during his recent confirmation hearings. And he said, and I quote, "The framers were not the sort of people, having fought a revolution to get the right of self-government to sit down and say, 'Well, let's take all the difficult issues before us and let's have the judges decide them.' That would have been the farthest thing from their mind," however, I fear that the Supreme Court forgets this advice.”

“Its minority rule and majority limited rights. In fact it's set up that way. If you read the framers of the constitution, including James Madison, he was pretty clear about it.”

Ifs Way Facts Clear Rights Constitution Majority Including Minorities Madison Framers

Author:Noam Chomsky

“If you look at the minutes of the constitutional convention - which we have - Madison who was the main framer, proceeded to develop a system in which - as he put it - power would be in the hands of the wealth of the nation, the more responsible set of men and who recognize the need to protect the rights of property owners. That's why in the constitutional system, the most powerful part of the whole system is the senate.”

Ifs Men Needs Looks Whole Hands Would Be Nations Wealth Powerful Rights Minutes Protect Responsible Property Owners Most Powerful Senate Conventions Madison Framers Constitutional Convention

Author:Noam Chomsky

“The framers, in their wisdom, designed the [political] system so that power's pretty disbursed.”

Political Political Systems Framers

Author:Barack Obama

“What the framers of the Constitution tried to achieve when they wrote that Constitution back in the 1700s was an independent federal judiciary. They wanted federal judges to be appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and to serve for good behavior.”

Wanted President Achieve Advice Judging Behavior Constitution Independent Senate Consent Judiciary Framers Good Behavior Federal Judges

Author:Sandra Day O'Connor

“Statutes authorizing unreasonable searches were the core concern of the framers of the 4th Amendment.”

History Concern Core Amendments Unreasonable Statutes Framers Unreasonable Searches

Author:Sandra Day O'Connor

“It is a measure of the framers' fear that a passing majority might find it expedient to compromise 4th Amendment values that these values were embodied in the Constitution itself.”

Might Values Politics Constitution Majority Passing Passings Compromise Amendments Framers

Author:Sandra Day O'Connor

“I sort of thought the framers of the Constitution were talking about the rights of individuals, not corporate entities.”

Individual Talking Rights Constitution Corporate Entity Framers

Author:Sandra Day O'Connor

“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

“Apparently a great many people have forgotten that the framers of our Constitution went to such great effort to create an independent judicial branch that would not be subject to retaliation by either the executive branch or the legislative branch because of some decision made by those judges.”

“The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.”

Friendship Enemy Revolution Speech Constitution Tyranny Free Speech Framers

Author:Hugo Black

“The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to 'create' rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.”

Government Freedom Liberty Rights Bills Human Rights Civil Rights Bill Of Rights Rights And Freedoms Framers Fundamental Rights

Author:William J. Brennan

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.”

People States Whole Body Government America Law Force United Liberty Power United States Arms Bears Band Gun Europe Standing Constitution Army Raised Supreme Kingdoms Superiors Usa Amendments Troops Gun Control Unjust Law Enforcement Founding Governing Freedom And Liberty Second Amendment Freedom Liberty Our Founding Fathers Limited Government Firearms Us Founding Fathers Right To Bear Arms Forefathers Militia Bearing Arms Gun Rights American Government Pretence Limiting Government Constitution Of The United States Rights And Freedoms Founding Fathers Of America Founding America Pro Gun Founding Fathers Gun 2 Amendment Us Constitution Founding Fathers Second Amendment Framers Disarming Us Army Limiting Freedom Anti Gun Amendment 1 Government And Society Supreme Power Gun Law Strong Arms Unjust Laws Amending The Constitution Amendment 19 Power Government Pro Gun Control Guns In America American Law Handgun Ban Laws And Government

Book:An Examination Into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia: With Answers to the Principal Objections that Have Been Raised Against the System

Source: An Examination Into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia: With Answers to the Principal Objections that Have Been Raised Against the System

“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.”

“To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”

“The framers of the constitution knew human nature as well as we do. They too had lived in dangerous days; they too knew the suffocating influence of orthodoxy and standardized thought. They weighed the compulsions for restrained speech and thought against the abuses of liberty. They chose liberty.”

Humans Wells Liberty Society Influence Dangerous Human Nature Speech Abuse Constitution Compulsion Orthodoxy Suffocating Framers

Author:William O. Douglas