James Madison Quotes About Freedom

Quotes about: Freedom

• 

  If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

  James Madison

  Inspirational, Freedom, Fear

  "The Last Enemy" by Rebecca Sato, www.pbs.org. November 11, 2010.

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

  James Madison

  Freedom, War, Democracies Have

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

• The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

  James Madison

  Freedom, War, Mean

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

  James Madison

  Education, Wisdom, Freedom

  1822; cited in U.S. Senate, Alleged Assassination Plots (1975).

• 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.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Believe, Power

  Speech at Virginia Convention, 5 June 1788

• Happily for America, happily, we trust, for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society.

  James Madison

  Freedom, 4th Of July, America

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.64

• Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Rights

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.46

• 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.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Animal, Fire

  The Federalist no. 10 (1788)

• We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.

  James Madison

  Bible, God, Religious

• Americans need not fear the federal government because they enjoy the advantage of being armed, which you possess over the people of almost every other nation.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Gun, Government

• 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.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Real, War

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.49, University of Virginia Press

• The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.

  James Madison

  Education, Freedom, Inspirational Life

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.41, University of Virginia Press

• If we advert to the nature of republican government, we shall find that the censorial power is in the people over the government, and not in the government over the people.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Government, People

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.95, University of Virginia Press

• The ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone, and that it will not depend merely on the comparative ambition or address of the different governments, whether either, or which of them, will be able to enlarge its sphere of jurisdiction at the expense of the other.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Gun, Democracies Have

  "America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights".

• In civilized communities, property as well as personal rights is an essential object of the laws, which encourage industry by securing the enjoyment of its fruits; that industry from which property results, and that enjoyment which consists not merely in its immediate use, but in its posthumous destination to objects of choice, and of kindred affection. In a just and free government, therefore, the rights both of property and of persons ought to be effectually guarded.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Law, Rights

  "Selections from the Private Correspondence of James Madison, from 1813 to 1836".

• Our country, if it does justice to itself, will be the workshop of liberty to the civilized world.

  James Madison

  Country, Freedom, Justice

• No free country has ever been without Parties, which are a natural offspring of freedom.

  James Madison

  Country, Freedom, Party

  James Madison (1840). “The Papers of James Madison: Purchased by Order of the Congress, Being His Correspondence and Reports of Debates During the Congress of the Confederation, and His Reports of Debates in the Federal Convention; Now Published from the Original Manuscripts, Deposited in the Department of State”

• If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude and all the other qualities which enoble the character of a nation, and fulfill the ends of Government be the fruits of our establishments, the cause of liberty will acquire a dignity and lustre, which it has never yet enjoyed, and an example will be set, which can not but have the most favorable influence on the rights of Mankind.

  James Madison

  Gratitude, Freedom, Character

  Jonathan Elliot, James Madison, United States. Constitutional Convention (1836). “The debates in the several state conventions on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, as recommended by the general convention at Philadelphia in 1787: Together with the Journal of the Federal convention, Luther Martin's letter, Yates's minutes, Congressional opinions, Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of '98-'99, and other illustrations of the Constitution”, p.131

• Popular liberty might then have escaped the indelible reproach of decreeing to the same citizens, the hemlock on one day, and statues on the next.

  James Madison

  Freedom, One Day, Liberty

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.309, Coventry House Publishing

• No man will subject himself to the ridicule of pretending that any natural connection subsists between the sun or the seasons, and the period within which human virtue can bear the temptations of power. Happily for mankind, liberty is not, in this respect, confined to any single point of time, but lies within extremes, which afford sufficient latitude for all the variations which may be required by the various situations and circumstances of civil society.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Lying, Men

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2003). “The Federalist: With Letters of Brutus”, p.260, Cambridge University Press

• If this spirit shall ever be so far debased, as to tolerate a law not obligatory on the legislature, as well as on the people, the people will be prepared to tolerate any thing but liberty.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Law, People

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

• In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example . . . of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the most consoling presage of its happiness.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Europe, Practice

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.20, University of Virginia Press

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin