James Madison Quotes About Property

Quotes about: Property

• As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

  James Madison

  Men, Rights, Liberty

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

• The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.

  James Madison

  Giving, Liberty, Protection

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

• That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has in his personal safety and personal liberty, is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest.

  James Madison

  Men, Class, Safety

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.479

• Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.

  James Madison

  Men, Political, Liberty

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.478

• Let the influx of money be ever so great, if there be no confidence, property will sink in value... The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.

  James Madison

  Circulation, No Confidence, Property

  James Madison (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.538

• 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

• A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species.

  James Madison

  Government, Taxation, Rewards

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

• 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.

  James Madison

  Party, Passion, Sacrifice

  "Federalist No. 10 (The Federalist Papers)". Essay by James Madison, November 23, 1787.

• The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.

  James Madison

  Rights, Government, Liberty

  James Madison (1999). “Writings”

• It is sufficiently obvious, that persons and property are the two great subjects on which Governments are to act; and that the rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. These rights cannot well be separated.

  James Madison

  Rights, Government, Two

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

• Conscience is the most sacred of all property.

  James Madison

  Religious, Liberty, Sacred

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.479

• Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that, being a natural and unalienable right.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Law, Sacred

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.479

• Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the few not for the many.

  James Madison

  Law, Toil, Different

  James Madison, John Jay (1818). “The Federalist: On the New Constitution; Written in 1788, by Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Madison”, p.338

• The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce. ... The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State.

  James Madison

  War, Government, Order

• Who does not see that . . . the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?

  James Madison

  Support, Church, May

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

• Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own.

  James Madison

  Wisdom, Lying, Men

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

• There is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by...corporations. The power of all corporations ought to be limited in this respect. The growing wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses.

  James Madison

  Evil, Abuse, Growing

  "Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical Endowments". Essay by James Madison, 1817 - 1832.

• By rendering the labor of one, the property of the other, they cherish pride, luxury, and vanity on one side; on the other, vice and servility, or hatred and revolt.

  James Madison

  Pride, Vanity, Two Sides

• Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.

  James Madison

  Wisdom, Politics, Economy

  The Federalist no. 10 (1788)

• In the latter sense, a man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them. He has a property of peculiar value in his religious opinions, and in the profession and practice dictated by them. He has an equal property in the free use of his faculties and free choice of the objects on which to employ them. In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

  James Madison

  Religious, Communication, Men

  "Advice to My Country".

• 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. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.

  James Madison

  Passion, Government, Democracies Have

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, Henry Barton Dawson (1864). “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”, p.60, New York : C. Scribner ; London : Sampson Low

• [A]ll power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from, the people. That government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty and the right of acquiring property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. That the people have an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform or change their government whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purpose of its institution.

  James Madison

  Government, People, Safety

  James Madison (1999). “Writings”

• 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".

• The Convention thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men.

  James Madison

  Men, Ideas, Slavery

  James Madison (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, Yate's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution”

• It is due to justice; due to humanity; due to truth; due to the sympathies of our nature; in fine, to our character as a people, both abroad and at home, that they should be considered, as much as possible, in the light of human beings, and not as mere property. As such, they are acted on by our laws, and have an interest in our laws. They may be considered as making a part, though a degraded part, of the families to which they belong.

  James Madison

  Character, Home, Light

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

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