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Each State, In Ratifying The Constitution, Is Considered As A Sovereign Body, Independent Of All Others, And Only To Be Bound By Its Own Voluntary Act. In This Relation, Then, The New Constitution Will, If Established, Be A Federal, And Not A National Constitution.

-James Madison

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Each State, In Ratifying

James Madison

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Each State, In Ratifying The Constitution, Is Considered As A Sovereign Body, Independent Of All Others, And Only To Be Bound By Its Own Voluntary Act. In This Relation, Then, The New Constitution Will, If Established, Be A Federal, And Not A National Constitution.

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In Europe, Charters Of Liberty Have Been Granted By Power. In America ... Charters Of Power [are] Granted By Liberty.

Security Against Foreign Danger Is One Of The Primitive Objects Of Civil Society. It Is An Avowed And Essential Object Of The American Union.

The Interest Of The Man Must Be Connected With The Constitutional Rights Of The Place. It May Be A Reflection On Human Nature, That Such Devices Should Be Necessary To Control The Abuses Of Government. But What Is Government Itself, But The Greatest Of All Reflections On Human Nature?

The Members Of The Legislative Department . . . Are Numerous. They Are Distributed And Dwell Among The People At Large. Their Connections Of Blood, Of Friendship, And Of Acquaintance Embrace A Great Proportion Of The Most Influential Part Of The Society . . . They Are More Immediately The Confidential Guardians Of Their Rights And Liberties.

Besides The Advantage Of Being Armed, Which The Americans Possess Over The People Of Almost Every Other Nation, The Existence Of Subordinate Governments, To Which The People Are Attached, And By Which The Militia Officers Are Appointed, Forms A Barrier Against The Enterprises Of Ambition, More Insurmountable Than Any Which A Simple Government Of Any Form Can Admit Of.

That This Liberty [of The Press] Is Often Carried To Excess; That It Has Sometimes Degenerated Into Licentiousness, Is Seen And Lamented, But The Remedy Has Not Yet Been Discovered. Perhaps It Is An Evil Inseparable From The Good With Which It Is Allied; Perhaps It Is A Shoot Which Cannot Be Stripped From The Stalk Without Wounding Vitally The Plant From Which It Is Torn. However Desirable Those Measures Might Be Which Might Correct Without Enslaving The Press, They Have Never Yet Been Devised In America.

[r]efusing Or Not Refusing To Execute A Law To Stamp It With Its Final Character . . . Makes The Judiciary Department Paramount In Fact To The Legislature, Which Was Never Intended And Can Never Be Proper.

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?

The Magnitude Of This Evil Among Us Is So Deeply Felt, And So Universally Acknowledged, That No Merit Could Be Greater Than That Of Devising A Satisfactory Remedy For It.

A President Is Impeachable If He Attempts To Subvert The Constitution.

Of All The Enemies Of Public Liberty, War Is Perhaps The Most To Be Dreaded, Because It Comprises And Develops The Germ Of Every Other.

In Republics, The Great Danger Is, That The Majority May Not Sufficiently Respect The Rights Of The Minority.

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.

Every Man Who Loves Peace, Every Man Who Loves His Country, Every Man Who Loves Liberty Ought To Have It Ever Before His Eyes That He May Cherish In His Heart A Due Attachment To The Union Of America And Be Able To Set A Due Value On The Means Of Preserving It.

The Constitution Supposes, What The History Of All Governments Demonstrates, That The Executive Is The Branch Of Power Most Interested In War, And Most Prone To It.

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. In Framing A Government Which Is To Be Administered By Men Over Men, The Great Difficulty Lies In This: You Must First Enable The Government To Control The Governed; And In The Next Place Oblige It To Control Itself. A Dependence On The People Is, No Doubt, The Primary Control On The Government; But Experience Has Taught Mankind The Necessity Of Auxiliary Precautions.

If Congress Can Do Whatever In Their Discretion Can Be Done By Money, And Will Promote The General Welfare, The Government Is No Longer A Limited One, Possessing Enumerated Powers, But An Indefinite One.

The Protection Of These Faculties Is The First Object Of Government.

The Necessity Of A Senate Is Not Less Indicated By The Propensity Of All Single And Numerous Assemblies, To Yield To The Impulse Of Sudden And Violent Passions, And To Be Seduced By Factious Leaders, Into Intemperate And Pernicious Resolutions.

The Essence Of Government Is Power; And Power, Lodged As It Must Be In Human Hands, Will Ever Be Liable To Abuse.

The Number Of Individuals Employed Under The Constitution Of The United States Will Be Much Smaller Than The Number Employed Under The Particular States.

Constitution Of The United States

The Accumulation Of All Powers, Legislative, Executive, And Judiciary, In The Same Hands, Whether Of One, A Few, Or Many, And Whether Hereditary, Selfappointed, Or Elective, May Justly Be Pronounced The Very Definition Of Tyranny.

Independent Judiciary

The Advice Nearest To My Heart And Deepest In My Convictions Is That The Union Of The States Be Cherished And Perpetuated.

Any Reading Not Of A Vicious Species Must Be A Good Substitute For The Amusements Too Apt To Fill Up The Leisure Of The Labouring Classes.

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.

In A Free Government, The Security For Civil Rights Must Be The Same As That For Religious Rights. It Consists In The One Case In The Multiplicity Of Interests, And In The Other In The Multiplicity Of Sects. The Degree Of Security In Both Cases, Will Depend On The Number Of Interests And Sects; And This May Be Presumed To Depend On The Extent Of Country And Number Of People Comprehended Under The Same Government.

The Growing Wealth Aquired By Them Corporations Never Fails To Be A Source Of Abuses.

Congress Should Not Establish A Religion, And Enforce The Legal Observation Of It By Law, Nor Compel Men To Worship God In Any Manner Contrary To Their Conscience.

What Spectacle Can Be More Edifying Or More Seasonable, Than That Of Liberty And Learning, Each Leaning On The Other For Their Mutual And Surest Support?

[t]he Great Security Against A Gradual Concentration Of The Several Powers In The Same Department Consists In Giving To Those Who Administer Each Department The Necessary Constitutional Means And Personal Motives To Resist Encroachment Of The Others.

The Best Reason To Be Assigned, In This Case, For Not Having Made The Constitution More Free From A Charge Of Uncertainty In Its Meaning, Is Believed To Be, That It Was Not Suspected That Any Such Charge Would Ever Take Place; And It Appears That No Such Charge Did Take Place, During The Early Period Of The Constitution, When The Meaning Of Its Authors Could Be Best Ascertained, Nor Until Many Of The Contemporary Lights Had In The Lapse Of Time Been Extinguished. How Often Does It Happen, That A Notoriety Of Intention Diminishes The Caution Against Its Being Misunderstood Or Doubted!

[y]ou Will Understand The Game Behind The Curtain Too Well Not To Perceive The Old Trick Of Turning Every Contingency Into A Resource For Accumulating Force In The Government.

Religion, Or The Duty We Owe To Our Creator, And Manner Of Discharging It, Can Be Directed Only By Reason And Conviction, Not By Force Or Violence; And, Therefore, That All Men Should Enjoy The Fullest Toleration In The Exercise Of Religion According To The Dictates Of Conscience, Unpunished And Unrestrained By The Magistrate, Unless Under Color Of Religion Any Man Disturb The Peace, The Happiness, Or Safety Of Society, And That It Is The Mutual Duty Of All To Practice Christian Forbearance, Love And Charity Toward Each Other.

The Express Authority Of The People Alone Could Give Validity To The Constitution.

Religious Bondage Shackles And Debilitates The Mind And Unfits It For Every Noble Enterprise.... During Almost Fifteen Centuries Has The Legal Establishment Of Christianity Been On Trial. What Have Been Its Fruits? More Or Less, In All Places, Pride And Indolence In The Clergy; Ignorance And Servility In Laity; In Both, Superstition, Bigotry, And Persecution.

[restraints On The Press] In All Ages, Have Debauched Morals, Depressed Liberty, Shackled Religion, Supported Despotism, And Deluged The Scaffold With Blood.

There Is A Degree Of Depravity In Mankind Which Requires A Certain Degree Of Circumspection And Distrust.

[religious Liberty Was] In Its Nature An Inalienable Right ... Because The Opinions Of Men, Depending Only Upon The Evidence Contemplated By Their Minds, Cannot Follow The Dictates Of Other Men.

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.

Enlightened Statesmen Will Not Always Be At The Helm.

Bills Of Attainder, Ex-post Facto Laws And Laws Impairing The Obligation Of Contracts Are Contrary To The First Principles Of The Social Compact, And To Every Principle Of Sound Legislation.

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.

But The Mild Voice Of Reason, Pleading The Cause Of An Enlarged And Permanent Interest, Is But Too Often Drowned, Before Public Bodies As Well As Individuals, By The Clamors Of An Impatient Avidity For Immediate And Immoderate Gain.

These Considerations And Many Others That Might Be Mentioned Prove, And Experience Confirms It, That Artisans And Manufacturers Will Commonly Be Disposed To Bestow Their Votes On Merchants.

Equal Laws Protecting Equal Rights…the Best Guarantee Of Loyalty And Love Of Country.

In Time Of Actual War, Great Discretionary Powers Are Constantly Given To The Executive Magistrate. Constant Apprehension Of War, Has The Same Tendency To Render The Head Too Large For The Body. A Standing Military Force, With An Overgrown Executive Will Not Long Be Safe Companions To Liberty.

That Is Not A Just Government Where Arbitrary Restrictions, Exemptions, And Monopolies Deny To Part Of Its Citizens That Free Use Of Their Faculties, And Free Choice Of Their Occupations.

As To The Permanent Interest Of Individuals In The Aggregated Interests Of The Community, And In The Proverbial Maxim, That Honesty Is The Best Policy, Present Temptation Is Often Found To Be An Overmatch For Those Considerations.

Resolved, That The General Assembly Of Virginia, Doth Unequivocally Express A Firm Resolution To Maintain And Defend The Constitution Of The United States, And The Constitution Of This State, Against Every Aggression Either Foreign Or Domestic, And That They Will Support The Government Of The United States In All Measures Warranted By The Former.

Man Is Known To Be A Selfish, As Well As A Social Being.

The Class Of Citizens Who Provide At Once Their Own Food And Their Own Raiment, May Be Viewed As The Most Truly Independent And Happy.

I Go On The Principle That A Public Debt Is A Public Curse And In A Republican Government More Than In Any Other.

[t]he Delegation Of The Government, In [a Republic], To A Small Number Of Citizens Elected By The Rest . . . [is] To Refine And Enlarge The Public Views By Passing Them Through The Medium Of A Chosen Body Of Citizens, Whose Wisdom May Best Discern The True Interest Of Their Country And Whose Patriotism And Love Of Justice Will Be Least Likely To Sacrifice It To Temporary Or Partial Considerations.

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.

It Is Too Early For Politicians To Presume On Our Forgetting That The Public Good, The Real Welfare Of The Great Body Of The People, Is The Supreme Object To Be Pursued; And That No Form Of Government Whatever Has Any Other Value Than As It May Be Fitted For The Attainment Of This Object.

No Man Is Allowed To Be A Judge In His Own Cause; Because His Interest Would Certainly Bias His Judgment, And, Not Improbably, Corrupt His Integrity. With Equal, Nay With Greater Reason, A Body Of Men Are Unfit To Be Both Judges And Parties At The Same Time.

The Citizens Of The United States Have Peculiar Motives To Support The Energy Of Their Constitutional Charters.

[regarding Legislative Assemblies,] The Number Ought At Most To Be Kept Within A Certain Limit, In Order To Avoid The Confusion And Intemperance Of A Multitude. In All Very Numerous Assemblies, Of Whatever Characters Composed, Passion Never Fails To Wrest The Scepter From Reason. Had Every Athenian Citizen Been A Socrates, Every Athenian Assembly Would Still Have Been A Mob.

The Capacity Of The Female Mind For Studies Of The Highest Order Cannot Be Doubted, Having Been Sufficiently Illustrated By Its Works Of Genius, Of Erudition, And Of Science.

It Becomes All Therefore Who Are Friends Of A Government Based On Free Principles To Reflect, That By Denying The Possibility Of A System Partly Federal And Partly Consolidated, And Who Would Convert Ours Into One Either Wholly Federal Or Wholly Consolidated, In Neither Of Which Forms Have Individual Rights, Public Order, And External Safety, Been All Duly Maintained, They Aim A Deadly Blow At The Last Hope Of True Liberty On The Face Of The Earth.

It Is To The Press Mankind Are Indebted For Having Dispelled The Clouds Which So Long Encompassed Religion, For Disclosing Her Genuine Lustre, And Disseminating Her Salutary Doctrines.

Union Of Religious Sentiments Begets A Surprising Confidence.

When Men Exercise Their Reason Coolly And Freely, On A Variety Of Distinct Questions, They Inevitably Fall Into Different Opinions, On Some Of Them. When They Are Governed By A Common Passion, Their Opinions If They Are So To Be Called, Will Be The Same.

No Error Is More Certain Than The One Proceeding From A Hasty And Superficial View Of The Subject.

If There Be A Principle That Ought Not To Be Questioned Within The United States, It Is That Every Man Has A Right To Abolish An Old Government And Establish A New One. This Principle Is Not Only Recorded In Every Public Archive, Written In Every American Heart, And Sealed With The Blood Of American Martyrs, But Is The Only Lawful Tenure By Which The United States Hold Their Existence As A Nation.

Every Answer He [president John Adams] Gives To His Addressers Unmasks More And More His Principles And Views. His Language To The Young Men At Philadelphia Is The Most Abominable And Degrading That Could Fall From The Lips Of The First Magistrate Of An Independent People, And Particularly From A Revolutionary Patriot.

[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.

We Have Seen That The Tendency Of Republican Governments Is To An Aggrandizement Of The Legislative At The Expense Of The Other Departments. The Appeals To The People, Therefore, Would Usually Be Made By The Executive And Judiciary Departments.

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?

I Have No Doubt But That The Misery Of The Lower Classes Will Be Found To Abate Wherever The Government Assumes A Freer Aspect,& The Laws Favor A Subdivision Of Property.

Wherever The Real Power In A Government Lies, There Is The Danger Of Oppression.

Government Lies

In A Free Government The Security For Civil Rights Must Be The Same As That For Religious Rights.

The Means Of Defense Against Foreign Danger Historically Have Become The Instruments Of Tyranny At Home.

[montesquieu] Lifted The Veil From The Venerable Errors Which Enslaved Opinion, And Pointed The Way To Those Luminous Truths Of Which He Had But A Glimpse Himself.

As The People Are The Only Legitimate Fountain Of Power, And It Is From Them That The Constitutional Charter, Under Which The Several Branches Of Government Hold Their Power, Is Derived, It Seems Strictly Consonant To The Republican Theory, To Recur To The Same Original Authority, Not Only Whenever It May Be Necessary To Enlarge, Diminish, Or New-model The Powers Of The Government, But Also Whenever Any One Of The Departments May Commit Encroachments On The Chartered Authorities Of The Others.

The People Shall Not Be Restrained From Peacefully Assembling And Consulting For Their Common Good, Nor From Applying To The Legislature By Petitions, Or Remonstrances For Redress Of Their Grievances.

Freedom Of Speech

Crisis Is The Rallying Cry Of The Tyrant.

It May Be Considered As An Objection Inherent In The Principle, That As Every Appeal To The People Would Carry An Implication Of Some Defect In The Government, Frequent Appeals Would In Great Measure Deprive The Government Of That Veneration Which Time Bestows On Every Thing, And Without Which Perhaps The Wisest And Freest Governments Would Not Possess The Requisite Stability . . . A Constitutional Road To The Decision Of The People Ought To Be Marked Out And Kept Open, For Certain Great And Extraordinary Occasions

No Man Is Allowed To Be A Judge In His Own Cause, Because His Interest Would Certainly Bias His Judgment.

There Is Not A More Important And Fundamental Principle In Legislation, Than That The Ways And Means Ought Always To Face The Public Engagements; That Our Appropriations Should Ever Go Hand In Hand With Our Promises. To Say That The United States Should Be Answerable For Twenty-five Millions Of Dollars Without Knowing Whether The Ways And Means Can Be Provided, And Without Knowing Whether Those Who Are To Succeed Us Will Think With Us On The Subject, Would Be Rash And Unjustifiable. Sir, In My Opinion, It Would Be Hazarding The Public Faith In A Manner Contrary To Every Idea Of Prudence.

Experience Assures Us, That The Efficacy Of The Provision Has Been Greatly Over-rated; And That Some More Adequate Defense Is Indispensably Necessary For The More Feeble, Against The More Powerful Members Of The Government.

The Religion Then Of Every Man Must Be Left To The Conviction And Conscience Of Every Man; And It Is The Right Of Every Man To Exercise It As These May Dictate.

The Powers Of The Federal Government Are Enumerated; It Can Only Operate In Certain Cases; It Has Legislative Powers On Defined And Limited Objects, Beyond Which It Cannot Extend Its Jurisdiction.

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.

Ecclesiastical Establishments Tend To Great Ignorance And Corruption

Religious Truth

No Man Can Be A Competent Legislator Who Does Not Add To An Upright Intention And A Sound Judgment A Certain Degree Of Knowledge Of The Subject On Which He Is To Legislate.

The Power Of Taxing People And Their Property Is Essential To The Very Existence Of Government.

Whatever May Be The Judgement Pronounced On The Competency Of The Architects Of The Constitution, Or Whatever May Be The Destiny Of The Edifice Prepared By Them, I Feel It A Duty To Express My Profound And Solemn Conviction . . . That There Never Was An Assembly Of Men, Charged With A Great And Arduous Trust, Who Were More Pure In Their Motives, Or More Exclusively Or Anxiously Devoted To The Object Committed To Them.

It Is A Misfortune, Inseparable From Human Affairs, That Public Measures Are Rarely Investigated With That Spirit Of Moderation Which Is Essential To A Just Estimate Of Their Real Tendency To Advance Or Obstruct The Public Good; And That This Spirit Is More Apt To Be Diminished Than Prompted, By Those Occasions Which Require An Unusual Exercise Of It.

Among The Numerous Advantages Promised By A Well-constructed Union, None Deserves To Be More Accurately Developed Than Its Tendency To Break And Control The Violence Of Faction.

The Constitution Of The U.s. Forbids Everything Like An Establishment Of A National Religion.

Founding Fathers Religion

[in A Democracy] A Common Passion Or Interest Will, In Almost Every Case , Be Felt By A Majority Of The Whole; A Communication And Concert Results From The Form Of Government Itself; And There Is Nothing To Check The Inducements To Sacrifice The Weaker Party Or An Obnoxious Individual.

For What Purpose Could The Enumeration Of Particular Powers Be Inserted, If These And All Others Were Meant To Be Included In The Preceding General Power?

Were Meant To Be

Good Conscience Is The Most Valuable Asset Of All!

What A Perversion Of The Normal Order Of Things! ... To Make Power The Primary And Central Object Of The Social System, And Liberty But Its Satellite.

Despotism Can Only Exist In Darkness.

Those Who Are To Conduct A War Cannot In The Nature Of Things, Be Proper Or Safe Judges, Whether A War Ought To Be Commenced, Continued, Or Concluded.

Because We Hold It For 'a Fundamental And Undeniable Truth', That Religion Or 'the Duty Which We Owe To Our Creator' And The Manner Of Discharging It, Can Be Directed Only By Reason And Conviction, Not By Force Or Violence.

Religious Truth

Disarm The People- That Is The Best And Most Effective Way To Enslave Them.

[a] Mere Demarcation On Parchment Of The Constitutional Limits Of The Several Departments Is Not A Sufficient Guard Against Those Encroachments Which Lead To A Tyrannical Concentration Of All The Powers Of Government In The Same Hands.

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.

The Effect Of A Representative Democracy Is To Refine And Enlarge The Public Views, By Passing Them Through The Medium Of A Chosen Body Of Citizens, Whose Wisdom May Best Discern The True Interest Of The Nation.

As The People Of The United States Enjoy The Great Merit Of Having Established A System Of Government On The Basis Of Human Rights, And Of Giving It A Form Without Example, Which, As They Believe, Unites The Greatest National Strength With The Best Security For Public Order And Individual Liberty, They Owe To Themselves, To Their Posterity And To The World, A Preservation Of The System In Its Purity, Its Symmetry, And Its Authenticity.

An Armed And Trained Militia Is The Firmest Bulwark Of Republics - That Without Standing Armies Their Liberty Can Never Be In Danger, Nor With Large Ones Safe.

The Advice Nearest To My Heart And Deepest In My Convictions Is That The Union Of The States Be Cherished And Perpetuated. Let The Open Enemy To It Be Regarded As A Pandora With Her Box Opened, And The Disguised One As The Serpent Creeping With His Deadly Wiles Into Paradise.

It Is Not Certain That With This Aid Alone [possession Of Arms], They Would Not Be Able To Shake Off Their Yokes. But Were The People To Posses The Additional Advantages Of Local Governments Chosen By Themselves, Who Could Collect The National Will, And Direct The National Force; And Of Officers Appointed Out Of The Militia, By These Governments And Attached Both To Them And To The Militia, It May Be Affirmed With The Greatest Assurance, That The Throne Of Every Tyranny In Europe Would Be Speedily Overturned, In Spite Of The Legions Which Surround It.

Justice Is The End Of Government. It Is The End Of Civil Society. It Ever Has Been And Ever Will Be Pursued Until It Be Obtained, Or Until Liberty Be Lost In The Pursuit.

[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.

Were It Possible So To Accelerate The Intercourse Between Every Part Of The Globe That All Its Inhabitants Could Be United Under The Superintending Authority Of An Ecumenical Council, How Great A Portion Of Human Evils Would Be Avoided.

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.

It Is Impossible For The Man Of Pious Reflection Not To Perceive In It [the Constitution] A Finger Of That Almighty Hand Which Has Been So Frequently And Signally Extended To Our Relief In The Critical Stages Of The Revolution.

We Look Back, Already, With Astonishment, At The Daring Outrages Committed By Despotism, On The Reason And Rights Of Man; We Look Forward With Joy, To The Period, When It Shall Be Despoiled Of All Its Usurpations, And Bound Forever In The Chains, With Which It Had Loaded Its Miserable Victims.

... The State Legislatures Will Jealously And Closely Watch The Operations Of This Government, And Be Able To Resist With More Effect Every Assumption Of Power, Than Any Other Power On Earth Can Do; And The Greatest Opponents To A Federal Government Admit The State Legislatures To Be Sure Guardians Of The People's Liberty.

There Is Not A More Important And Fundamental Principle In Legislation, Than That The Ways And Means Ought Always To Face The Public Engagements; That Our Appropriations Should Ever Go Hand In Hand With Our Promises.

The Establishment Of The Chaplainship To Congress Is A Palpable Violation Of ... Constitutional Principles.

The Regulation Of Commerce, It Is True, Is A New Power; But That Seems To Be An Addition Which Few Oppose And From Which No Apprehensions Are Entertained.

Who Does Not See That The Same Authority Which Can Establish Christianity, In Exclusion Of All Other Religions, May Establish With The Same Ease Any Particular Sect Of Christians, In Exclusion Of All Other Sects?

A Pure Democracy Is A Society Consisting Of A Small Number Of Citizens, Who Assemble And Administer The Government In Person.

Liberty Is To Faction What Air Is To Fire.

A Just Government Has No Need For The Clergy Or The Church.

But The Most Deplorable Effect Of All, Is That Diminution Of Attachment And Reverence, Which Steals Into The Hearts Of The People, Towards A Political System Which Betrays So Many Marks Of Infirmity, And Disappoints So Many Of Their Flattering Hopes. No Government, Any More Than An Individual, Will Long Be Respected, Without Being Truly Respectable; Nor Be Truly Respectable, Without Possessing A Certain Portion Of Order And Stability.

What Is To Be The Consequence, In Case The Congress Shall Misconstrue This Part [the Necessary And Proper Clause] Of The Constitution And Exercise Powers Not Warranted By Its True Meaning, I Answer The Same As If They Should Misconstrue Or Enlarge Any Other Power Vested In Them . . . The Success Of The Usurpation Will Depend On The Executive And Judiciary Departments, Which Are To Expound And Give Effect To The Legislative Acts; And In A Last Resort A Remedy Must Be Obtained From The People, Who Can By The Elections Of More Faithful Representatives, Annul The Acts Of The Usurpers.

The Great Desideratum In Government Is, So To Modify The Sovereignty As That It May Be Sufficiently Neutral Between Different Parts Of The Society To Controul One Part From Invading The Rights Of Another, And At The Same Time Sufficiently Controuled Itself, From Setting Up An Interest Adverse To That Of The Entire Society.

That The Foundation Of Our National Policy Should Be Laid In Private Morality. If Individuals Be Not Influenced By Moral Principles, It Is In Vain To Look For Public Virtue; It Is, Therefore, The Duty Of Legislators To Enforce, Both By Precept And Example, The Utility, As Well As The Necessity, Of A Strict Adherence To The Rules Of Distributive Justice.

Of All The Objections Which Have Been Framed Against The Federal Constitution, This Is Perhaps The Most Extraordinary. Whilst The Objection Itself Is Levelled Against A Pretended Oligarchy, The Principle Of It Strikes At The Very Root Of Republican Government.

If Tyranny And Oppression Come To This Land, It Will Be In The Guise Of Fighting A Foreign Enemy.

Government Destitute Of Energy, Will Ever Produce Anarchy.

Toleration Is Not The Opposite Of Intolerance, But Is The Counterfeit Of It. Both Are Despotisms. The One Assumes To Itself The Right Of Withholding Liberty Of Conscience, The Other Of Granting It.

It Is A Melancholy Reflection That Liberty Should Be Equally Exposed To Danger Whether The Government Have Too Much Power Or Too Little Power And That The Line Which Divides These Extremes Should Be So Inaccurately Defined By Experience.

From The The Protection Of Different And Unequal Faculties Of Acquiring Property, The Possession Of Different Degrees And Kinds Of Property Immediately Results.

We Are Free Today Substantially, But The Day Will Come When Our Republic Will Be An Impossibility. It Will Be An Impossibility Because Wealth Will Be Concentrated In The Hands Of A Few. A Republic Cannot Stand Upon Bayonets, And When The Day Comes When The Wealth Of The Nation Will Be In The Hands Of A Few, Then We Must Rely Upon The Wisdom Of The Best Elements In The Country To Readjust The Laws Of The Nations To The Changed Conditions.

The Constitution Proposed By The Convention May Be Considered Under Two General Points Of View. The First Relates To The Sum Or Quantity Of Power Which It Vests In The Government, Including The Restraints Imposed On The States. The Second, To The Particular Structure Of The Government, And The Distribution Of This Power Among Its Branches.

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.

A Watchful Eye Must Be Kept On Ourselves Lest While We Are Building Ideal Monuments Of Renown And Bliss Here We Neglect To Have Our Names Enrolled In The Annals Of Heaven.

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.

The Danger Of Disturbing The Public Tranquillity By Interesting Too Strongly The Public Passions, Is A Still More Serious Objection Against A Frequent Reference Of Constitutional Questions To The Decision Of The Whole Society.

Attempts To Enforce By Legal Sanctions, Acts Obnoxious To So Great A Proportion Of Citizens, Tend To Enervate The Laws In General, And To Slacken The Bands Of Society. If It Be Difficult To Execute Any Law Which Is Not Generally Deemed Necessary Or Salutary, What Must Be The Case, Where It Is Deemed Invalid And Dangerous? And What May Be The Effect Of So Striking An Example Of Impotency In The Government, On Its General Authority?

We Maintain Therefore That In Matters Of Religion, No Man's Right Is Abridged By The Institution Of Civil Society, And That Religion Is Wholly Exempt From Its Cognizance.

Who Are To Be The Electors Of The Federal Representatives? Not The Rich, More Than The Poor

Representatives

The Problem To Be Solved Is, Not What Form Of Government Is Perfect, But Which Of The Forms Is Least Imperfect.

In No Instance Have... The Churches Been Guardians Of The Liberties Of The People.

History Records That The Money Changers Have Used Every Form Of Abuse, Intrigue, Deceit, And Violent Means Possible To Maintain Their Control Over Governments By Controlling Money And It's Issuance.

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.

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.

Some Degree Of Abuse Is Inseparable From The Proper Use Of Everything.

Torrents Of Blood Have Been Spilt In The Old World, By Vain Attempts Of The Secular Arm, To Extinguish Religious Discord, By Proscribing All Difference In Religious Opinion. Time Has At Length Revealed The True Remedy. Every Relaxation Of Narrow And Rigorous Policy, Wherever It Has Been Tried, Has Been Found To Assuage The Disease.

The Preservation Of A Free Government Requires Not Merely That The Metes And Bounds Which Separate Each Department Of Power Be Invariably Maintained; But More Especially That Neither Of Them Be Suffered To Overleap The Great Barrier Which Defends The Rights Of The People. The Rulers Who Are Guilty Of Such An Encroachment, Exceed The Commission From Which They Derive Their Authority And Are Tyrants. The People Who Submit To It Are Governed By Laws Made Neither By Themselves Nor By An Authority Derived From Them, And Are Slaves.

[t]he Most Common And Durable Source Of Factions Has Been The Various And Unequal Distribution Of Property. Those Who Hold And Those Who Are Without Property Have Ever Formed Distinct Interests In Society. Those Who Are Creditors, And Those Who Are Debtors, Fall Under A Like Discrimination. A Landed Interest, A Manufacturing Interest, A Mercantile Interest, A Moneyed Interest, With Many Lesser Interests, Grow Up Of Necessity In Civilized Nations, And Divide Them Into Different Classes, Actuated By Different Sentiments And Views.

It Is Very Certain That [the Commerce Clause] Grew Out Of The Abuse Of The Power By The Importing States In Taxing The Non-importing, And Was Intended As A Negative And Preventive Provision Against Injustice Among The States Themselves, Rather Than As A Power To Be Used For The Positive Purposes Of The General Government.

[the Public Has] The Habit Now Of Invalidating Opinions Emanating From Me By Reference To My Age And Infirmities.

The Belief In A God All Powerful Wise And Good, Is So Essential To The Moral Order Of The World And To The Happiness Of Man, That Arguments Which Enforce It Cannot Be Drawn From Too Many Sources Nor Adapted With Too Much Solicitude To The Different Characters And Capacities Impressed With It.

But Cool And Candid People Will At Once Reflect, That The Purest Of Human Blessings Must Have A Portion Of Alloy In Them, That The Choice Must Always Be Made, If Not Of The Lesser Evil, At Least Of The Greater, Not The Perfect Good; And That In Every Political Institution, A Power To Advance The Public Happiness, Involves A Discretion Which May Be Misapplied And Abused.

It May Not Be Improper, However, To Remark Two Consequences, Evidently Flowing From An Extension Of The Federal Power To Every Subject Falling Within The Idea Of The "general Welfare." One Consequence Must Be, To Enlarge The Sphere Of Discretion Allotted To The Executive Magistrate... The Other Consequence Would Be, That Of An Excessive Augmentation Of The Offices, Honors, And Emoluments, Depending On The Executive Will.

Power Is Of An Encroaching Nature.

Reason, On The Contrary, Assures Us, That As In So Great A Number, A Fit Representative Would Be Most Likely To Be Found, So The Choice Would Be Less Likely To Be Diverted From Him, By The Intrigues Of The Ambitious, Or The Bribes Of The Rich.

Measures Should Be Enacted Which, Without Violating The Rights Of Property, Would Reduce Extreme Wealth Towards A State Of Mediocrity, And Raise Extreme Indigence Towards A State Of Comfort.

If The Public Homage Of A People Can Ever Be Worthy Of The Favorable Regard Of The Holy And Omniscient Being To Whom It Is Addressed, It Must Be That In Which Those Who Join In It Are Guided Only Be Their Free Choice-by The Impulse Of Their Hearts And The Dictates Of Their Consciences.

Who Are To Be The Objects Of Popular Choice? Every Citizen Whose Merit May Recommend Him To The Esteem And Confidence Of His Country.

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.

Of All The Enemies To Public Liberty War Is, Perhaps, The Most To Be Dreaded, Because It Comprises And Develops The Germ Of Every Other. War Is The Parent Of Armies; From These Proceed Debts And Taxes; And Armies, Debts, And Taxes Are The Known Instruments For Bringing The Many Under The Domination Of The Few... No Nation Could Preserve Its Freedom In The Midst Of Continual Warfare.

The Defect Of Power In The Existing Confederacy, To Regulate The Commerce Between Its Several Members Is In The Number Of Those Which Have Been Clearly Pointed Out By Experience . . . . A Very Material Object Of This Power Was The Relief Of The States Which Import And Export Through Other States From The Improper Contributions Levied On Them By The Latter.

A Victorious And Powerful Ally Is But Another Name For A Master.

That Useful Alterations Will Be Suggested By Experience, Could Not But Be Foreseen . . . . It Moreover Equally Enables The General And State Governments To Originate The Amendment Of Errors As They May Be Pointed Out By The Experience On One Side Or On The Other.

Rulers Who Wished To Subvert The Public Liberty, May Have Found An Established Clergy Convenient Auxiliaries. A Just Government Instituted To Secure & Perpetuate It Needs Them Not.

The People Of The U.s. Owe Their Independence & Their Liberty, To The Wisdom Of Descrying In The Minute Tax Of 3 Pence On Tea, The Magnitude Of The Evil Comprized In The Precedent. Let Them Exert The Same Wisdom, In Watching Agst Every Evil Lurking Under Plausible Disguises, And Growing Up From Small Beginnings.

The Safety And Happiness Of Society Are The Objects At Which All Political Institutions Aim, And To Which All Such Institutions Must Be Sacrificed.

Having Outlived So Many Of My Contemporaries, I Ought Not To Forget That I May Be Thought To Have Outlived Myself.

The Rights Of Man As The Foundation Of Just Government Had Been Long Understood But The Superstructures Projected Had Been Sadly Defective

The Infant Periods Of Most Nations Are Buried In Silence Or Veiled In Fable; And The World Perhaps Has Lost But Little Which It Needs Regret. The Origin And Outset Of The American Republic Contain Lessons Of Which Posterity Ought Not To Be Deprived: And Happily There Never Was A Case In Which Every Interesting Incident Could Be So Accurately Preserved.

We Have Seen The Mere Distinction Of Color Made In The Most Enlightened Period Of Time, A Ground Of The Most Oppressive Dominion Ever Exercised By Man Over Man.

I Cannot Undertake To Lay My Finger On That Article Of The Constitution Which Granted A Right To Congress Of Expending, On Objects Of Benevolence, The Money Of Their Constituents.

Every Word Of [the Constitution] Decides A Question Between Power And Liberty.

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.

The States Then Being The Parties To The Constitutional Compact, And In Their Sovereign Capacity, It Follows Of Necessity, That There Can Be No Tribunal Above Their Authority, To Decide In The Last Resort, Whether The Compact Made By Them Be Violated; And Consequently That As The Parties To It, They Must Themselves Decide In The Last Resort, Such Questions As May Be Of Sufficient Magnitude To Require Their Interposition.

There Ought Always To Be A Constitutional Method Of Giving Efficacy To Constitutional Provisions. What For Instance Would Avail Restrictions On The Authority Of The State Legislatures, Without Some Constitutional Mode Of Enforcing The Observance Of Them? . . . This Power Must Either Be A Direct Negative On The State Laws, Or An Authority In The Federal Courts, To Over-rule Such As Might Be In Manifest Contravention Of The Articles Of Union.

It Is Proper To Take Alarm At The First Experiment On Our Liberties. We Hold This Prudent Jealousy To Be The First Duty Of Citizens And One Of The Noblest Characteristics Of The Late Revolution. The Freemen Of America Did Not Wait Till Usurped Power Had Strengthened Itself By Exercise And Entangled The Question In Precedents. They Saw All The Consequences In The Principle, And They Avoided The Consequences By Denying The Principle. We Revere This Lesson Too Much ... To Forget It

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.

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.

The Civil Government, Though Bereft Of Every Thing Like An Associated Hierarchy, Possesses The Requisite Stability, And Performs Its Functions With Complete Success; Whilst The Number, The Industry, And The Morality Of The Priesthood, And The Devotion Of The People, Have Been Manifestly Increased By The Total Separation Of The Church From The State.

A Government Resting On The Minority Is An Aristocracy, Not A Republic, And Could Not Be Safe With A Numerical And Physical Force Against It, Without A Standing Army, An Enslaved Press And A Disarmed Populace.

[the Human Mind] Finds More Facility In Assenting To The Self-existence Of An Invisible Cause Possessing Infinite Power, Wisdom, And Goodness, Than In The Self-existence Of The Universe, Visibly Destitute Of These Attributes, And Which May Be The Effect Of Them.

Place Three Individuals In A Situation Wherein The Interest Of Each Depends On The Voice Of The Others, And Give To Two Of Them An Interest Opposed To The Rights Of The Third. Will The Latter Be Secure? The Prudence Of Every Man Would Shun The Danger. The Rules & Forms Of Justice Suppose & Guard Against It. Will Two Thousand In A Like Situation Be Less Likely To Encroach On The Rights Of One Thousand?

Every New And Successful Example Of A Perfect Separation Between Ecclesiastical And Civil Matters Is Of Importance.

Before Any Man Can Be Considered As A Member Of Civil Society, He Must Be Considered As A Subject Of The Governour Of The Universe: And If A Member Of Civil Society, Do It With A Saving Of His Allegiance To The Universal Sovereign. We Maintain Therefore That In Matters Of Religion, No Man's Right Is Abridged By The Institution Of Civil Society And That Religion Is Wholly Exempt From Its Cognizance.

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.

It Is The Duty Of Every Man To Render To The Creator Such Homage And Such Only As He Believes To Be Acceptable To Him. This Duty Is Precedent, Both In Order Of Time And In Degree Of Obligation, To The Claims Of Civil Society.

Although All Men Are Born Free, Slavery Has Been The General Lot Of The Human Race. Ignorant--they Have Been Cheated; Asleep--they Have Been Surprised; Divided--the Yoke Has Been Forced Upon Them. But What Is The Lesson...? The People Ought To Be Enlightened, To Be Awakened, To Be United, That After Establishing A Government They Should Watch Over It.... It Is Universally Admitted That A Well-instructed People Alone Can Be Permanently Free.

The American People Owe It To Themselves, And To The Cause Of Free Government, To Prove By Their Establishments For The Advancement And Diffusion Of Knowledge, That Their Political Institutionsare As Favorable To The Intellectual And Moral Improvement Of Man As They Are Conformable To His Individual And Social Rights.

The Constitution Expressly And Exclusively Vests In The Legislature The Power Of Declaring A State Of War [and] The Power Of Raising Armies.... A Delegation Of Such Powers [to The President] Would Have Struck, Not Only At The Fabric Of Our Constitution, But At The Foundation Of All Well Organized And Well Checked Governments. The Separation Of The Power Of Declaring War From That Of Conducting It, Is Wisely Contrived To Exclude The Danger Of Its Being Declared For The Sake Of Its Being Conducted.

The Right Of The Citizens To Bear Arms In Defense Of Themselves And The State Shall Not Be Questioned.

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.

The Proposed Constitution Is, In Strictness, Neither A National Nor A Federal Constitution; But A Composition Of Both.

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.

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.

Where A Majority Are United By A Common Sentiment, And Have An Opportunity, The Rights Of The Minor Party Become Insecure.

All Power In Human Hands Is Liable To Be Abused.

Because The Bill Vests In The Said Incorporated Church An Authority To Provide For The Support Of The Poor And The Education Of Poor Children Of The Same, An Authority Which, Being Altogether Superfluous If The Provision Is To Be The Result Of Pious Charity, Would Be A Precedent For Giving To Religious Societies As Such A Legal Agency In Carrying Into Effect A Public And Civil Duty.

A Standing Military Force, With An Overgrown Executive Will Not Long Be Safe Companions To Liberty.

The Civil Rights Of None, Shall Be Abridged On Account Of Religious Belief Or Worship, Nor Shall Any National Religion Be Established, Nor Shall The Full And Equal Rights Of Conscience Be In Any Manner, Or On Any Pretext Infringed.

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.

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