Constitution Quotes - Page 21

• The Constitution of the United States of America clearly affirms the right of every American citizen to bear arms. And as Americans, we will not give up a single right guaranteed under the Constitution.

  Malcolm X

  Giving Up, Gun, America

  Malcolm X (1992). “By any means necessary”, Pathfinder Pr

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• The tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications, I behold the surest pledges, that as on one side, no local prejudices, or attachments; no seperate views, nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests: so, on another, that the foundations of our National policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality...

  George Washington

  Party, Character, Eye

  George Washington's Inaugural Address, www.archives.gov. April 30, 1789.

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• The moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing, or hearing.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Feelings, Religion, Liberty

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.296, Cambridge University Press

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• Next Monday the Convention in Virginia will assemble; we have still good hopes of its adoption here: though by no great plurality of votes. South Carolina has probably decided favourably before this time. The plot thickens fast. A few short weeks will determine the political fate of America for the present generation, and probably produce no small influence on the happiness of society through a long succession of ages to come.

  George Washington

  Monday, Fate, America

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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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• 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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• To refer the power in question to the clause "to provide for the common defense and general welfare" would be contrary to the established and consistent rules of interpretation, as rendering the special and careful enumeration of powers which follow the clause nugatory and improper. Such a view of the Constitution would have the effect of giving to Congress a general power of legislation instead of the defined and limited one hitherto understood to belong to them, the terms "common defense and general welfare" embracing every object and act within the purview of a legislative trust.

  James Madison

  Views, Giving, Special

  James Madison (1819). “The Writings of James Madison: 1808-1819”, p.387

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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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• I, sir, have always conceived - I believe those who proposed the constitution conceived,and it is still more fully known, and more material to observe, those who ratified the constitution conceived, that this is not an indefinite government deriving its powers from the general terms prefixed to the specified powers - but, a limited government tied down to the specified powers, which explain and define the general terms.

  James Madison

  Believe, Government, Term

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.32, University of Virginia Press

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• [T]he foundation of a great Empire is laid, and I please myself with a persuasion, that Providence will not leave its work imperfect.

  George Washington

  Foundation, Empires, Imperfect

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1847). “pt. III. Private letters from the time Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Army to that of his inauguration as president of the United States: December, 1783-April, 1789”, p.184

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• I join cordially in admiring and revering the Constitution of the United States, the result of the collected wisdom of our country. That wisdom has committed to us the important task of proving by example that a government, if organized in all its parts on the Representative principle unadulterated by the infusion of spurious elements, if founded, not in the fears & follies of man, but on his reason, on his sense of right, on the predominance of the social over his dissocial passions, may be so free as to restrain him in no moral right, and so firm as to protect him from every moral wrong.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Passion, Men

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• It is in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the impulse of self-preservation. It is worse than in vain; because it plants in the Constitution itself necessary usurpations of power, every precedent of which is a germ of unnecessary and multiplied repetitions.

  James Madison

  Self, Germs, Unnecessary

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788”, p.219

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• To answer the purpose of the adversaries of the Constitution, they ought to prove, not merely that particular provisions in it are not the best, which might have been imagined; but that the plan upon the whole is bad and pernicious.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Answers, Might, Purpose

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2015). “The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution”, p.322, Coventry House Publishing

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• Tyranny has perhaps oftener grown out of the assumptions of power, called for, on pressing exigencies, by a defective constitution, than out of the full exercise of the largest constitutional authorities.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Exercise, Assumption, Authority

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1831). “The Federalist on the New Constitution”, p.98

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• The Federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular, to the state legislatures.

  James Madison

  Combination, Legislature, States

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.47

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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, Authority, States

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

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• The number of individuals employed under the Constitution of the United States will be much smaller than the number employed under the particular States.

  James Madison

  Numbers, Constitution Of The United States, Individual

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.214

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• The express authority of the people alone could give validity to the Constitution.

  James Madison

  People, Giving, Authority

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1842). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.205

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• After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America.

  Alexander Hamilton

  America, Government, United States

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2014). “The Federalist Papers”, p.3, Courier Corporation

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• In all the co-temporary discussions and comments, which the Constitution underwent, it was constantly justified and recommended on the ground, that the powers not given to the government, were withheld from it.

  James Madison

  Government, Justified, Given

  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.191

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• [The necessary and proper clause] neither enlarges any power specifically granted; nor is it a grant of any new power to Congress; But it is merely a declaration, for the removal of all uncertainty, that the means of carrying into execution those otherwise granted are included in the grant.

  Joseph Story

  Mean, Execution, Granted

  Joseph Story, Edmund H. Bennett (1858). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the Un. States: With a Prelim. Review of the Constitut. History of the Colonies and States, Bef. the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.136

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• As the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments of the United States are co-ordinate, and each equally bound to support the Constitution, it follows that each must in the exercise of its functions be guided by the text of the Constitution according to its own interpretation of it.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Support, United States

  James Madison (1867). “1829-1836”, p.349

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• I propose . . . . The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of republican government.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Republican Government, Principles, Conformity

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (2003). “The Federalist Papers”, p.15, Penguin

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• Upon the whole I doubt whether the Benefits of opposition to the Constitution opposition to the Constitution will not ultimately be productive of more good than evil; it has called forth, in its defence, abilities which would not perhaps have been otherwise exerted that have thrown a new light upon the science of government, It has given the rights of man a full and fair discussion, and explained them in so clear and forcible a manner, as cannot fail to make a lasting impression.

  George Washington

  Men, Rights, Light

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• The Union, and the Constitution, are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it. The picture was not made to conceal or destroy the apple, but to adorn and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple-not the apple for the picture.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Apples, Unions, Framed

  Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.169, Wildside Press LLC

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