James Madison Quotes - Page 20

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• The powers of the federal government ... result from the compact to which the states are parties, [and are] limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact.

  James Madison

  Party, Government, Intention

  Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates, J. W. Randolph, James Madison (1850). “The Virginia Report of 1799-1800: Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, Including the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia and Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions”, p.190

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• Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect. [...] Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth.

  James Madison

  Loyalty, Country, Religious

  Letter to Jacob De La Motta, printed in "Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 3" (1867), August 1820.

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• The proposed constitution, therefore, even when tested by the rules laid down by its antagonists, is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both. In its foundation it is federal, not national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the government are drawn, it is partly federal, and partly national; in the operation of these powers, it is national, not federal; in the extent of them again, it is federal, not national; and finally, in the authoritative mode of introducing amendments, it is neither wholly federal, nor wholly national.

  James Madison

  Government, Foundation, Ordinary

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.179

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• Inference is founded upon obvious reasons. Regard to reputation has a less active influence, when the infamy of a bad action is to be divided upon a number, than when it is to fall singly upon one. A spirit of faction . . . will often hurry the persons of whom they were composed into improprieties and excesses for which they would blush in a private capacity.

  James Madison

  Fall, Numbers, Excess

  Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison (2018). “America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights”, p.128, First Avenue Editions

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• Because finally, 'the equal right of every citizen to the free exercise of his religion according to the dictates of conscience' is held by the same tenure with all his other rights. If we recur to its origin, it is equally the gift of nature; if we weigh its importance, it cannot be less dear to us; if we consider the 'Declaration of those rights which pertain to the good people of Virginia, as the basis and foundation of government,' it is enumerated with equal solemnity, or rather studied emphasis.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Rights, Government

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

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• I have ever regarded the freedom of religious opinions and worship as equally belonging to every sect.

  James Madison

  Religious, Atheism, Opinion

  James Madison (1867). “1816-1828: 1816-1828”, p.97

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• By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest... The latent causes of faction are sown in the nature of man.

  James Madison

  Passion, Men, Numbers

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

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• Is it not the glory of the people of America, that whilst they have paid a decent regard to the opinions of former times and other nations, they have not suffered a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience? To this manly spirit, posterity will be indebted for the possession, and the world for the example of the numerous innovations displayed on the American theatre, in favor of private rights and public happiness.

  James Madison

  Rights, Names, America

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Quentin P. Taylor, John Jay (1998). “The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers”, p.57, Rowman & Littlefield

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• [A]s it must be admitted that the remedy under the Constitution lies where it has been marked out by the Constitution; and that no appeal can be consistently made from that remedy by those who were and still profess to be parties to it, but the appeal to the parties themselves having an authority above the Constitution or to the law of nature & of nature's God.

  James Madison

  Lying, Party, Law

  James Madison (1853). “Selections from the Private Correspondence of James Madison: From 1813 to 1836”, p.406

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• The real difference of interests, lay not between large and small, but between the Northern and Southern states. The institution of slavery and its consequences formed a line of discrimination.

  James Madison

  Real, Differences, Southern

  Wendell Phillips, James Madison, American Anti-Slavery Society (1856). “The Constitution a pro-slavery compact, or, Extracts from the Madison papers, etc”, p.35

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• Is there a Legislative power in fact, not expressly prohibited by the Constitution, which might not, according to the doctrine of the Court, be exercised as a means of carrying into effect some specified Power?

  James Madison

  Mean, Doctrine, Might

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

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• On any other hypothesis, the delegation of judicial power would annul the authority delegating it; and the concurrence of this department with the others in usurped powers, might subvert forever, and beyond the possible reach of any rightful remedy, the very Constitution which all were instituted to preserve.

  James Madison

  Forever, Judicial Power, Might

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

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• Outlets for the freed blacks are alone wanted for the erasure of the blot from our Republican character.

  James Madison

  Character, Slavery, Republican

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.60

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• The citizens of the United States have peculiar motives to support the energy of their constitutional charters.

  James Madison

  Support, Liberty, Citizens

  James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.468

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• In proportion to the value of this revolution; in proportion to the importance of instruments, every word of which decides a question between power and liberty; in proportion to the solemnity of acts, proclaiming the will authenticated by the seal of the people, the only earthly source of authority, ought to be the vigilance with which they are guarded by every citizen in private life, and the circumspection with which they are executed by every citizen in public trust.

  James Madison

  People, Liberty, Citizens

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• It is to be the assent and ratification of the several States, derived from the supreme authority in each State, the authority of the people themselves. The act, therefore establishing the Constitution, will not be a NATIONAL, but a FEDERAL act.

  James Madison

  People, Constitution, Authority

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.176

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• To consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.

  James Madison

  Miracle, Degrees, Constitution

  James Madison (1867). “1769-1793”, p.344

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• It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to unsurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded agst. by an entire abstinence of the Gov't from interfence in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect agst. trespasses on its legal rights by others.

  James Madison

  Order, Rights, Doubt

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• Happily for the states, they enjoy the utmost freedom of religion. This freedom arises from that multiplicity of sects which pervades America, and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in any society.

  James Madison

  Religious, America, Liberty

  "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution".

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• The important distinction so well understood in America between a constitution established by the people, and unalterable by the government; and a law established by the government, and alterable by the government, seems to have been little understood and less observed in any other country. Wherever the supreme power of legislation has resided, has been supposed to reside also, a full power to change the form of government.

  James Madison

  Country, Government, Law

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788”, p.247

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• The American people are too well schooled in the duty and practice of submitting to the will of the majority to permit any serious uneasiness on that account

  James Madison

  Practice, People, Serious

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.94

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• A public debt is a public curse.

  James Madison

  Presidential, Debt, Curse

  Letter to Henry Lee, 13 Apr. 1790

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• The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.

  James Madison

  Government, Diversity, Politics

  The Federalist no. 10 (1788)

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• In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature.

  James Madison

  Stronger, Tyranny Of The Majority, May

  James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay (2016). “The Federalist Papers: The Making of the US Constitution”, p.110, Arcturus Publishing

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• It is possible that these may all be insufficient to control the caprice and wickedness of man. But are they not all that government will admit, and all that human prudence can devise?

  James Madison

  Men, Wickedness, May

  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.399, New York : C. Scribner ; London : Sampson Low

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