3 December 2020 James Madison A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.
3 December 2020 James Madison 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.
3 December 2020 James Madison I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
3 December 2020 James Madison 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.
3 December 2020 James Madison War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.
3 December 2020 James Madison Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.
3 December 2020 James Madison Whenever a youth is ascertained to possess talents meriting an education which his parents cannot afford, he should be carried forward at the public expense.
3 December 2020 James Madison The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.
3 December 2020 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.
3 December 2020 James Madison The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad.
3 December 2020 James Madison And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
3 December 2020 James Madison The happy Union of these States is a wonder their Constitution a miracle their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.
3 December 2020 James Madison War contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason.
3 December 2020 James Madison Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
3 December 2020 James Madison Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.
3 December 2020 James Madison The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
3 December 2020 James Madison Every nation whose affairs betray a want of wisdom and stability may calculate on every loss which can be sustained from the more systematic policy of its wiser neighbors.
3 December 2020 James Madison A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.
