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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.

-James Madison

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I Have No Doubt

James Madison

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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.

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[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.

[exchange] The Galling Burden Of Bachelorship For The Easy Yoke Of Matrimony.

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

Is There No Virtue Among Us? If There Be Not, We Are In A Wretched Situation. No Theoretical Checks-no Form Of Government Can Render Us Secure. To Suppose That Any Form Of Government Will Secure Liberty Or Happiness Without Any Virtue In The People, Is A Chimerical Idea, If There Be Sufficient Virtue And Intelligence In The Community, It Will Be Exercised In The Selection Of These Men. So That We Do Not Depend On Their Virtue, Or Put Confidence In Our Rulers, But In The People Who Are To Choose Them.

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 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.

If Congress Can Employ Money Indefinitely To The General Welfare... They May Appoint Teachers In Every State... The Powers Of Congress Would Subvert The Very Foundation, The Very Nature Of The Limited Government Established By The People Of America.

The Genius Of Republican Liberty, Seems To Demand On One Side, Not Only That All Power Should Be Derived From The People; But, That Those Entrusted With It Should Be Kept In Dependence On The People, By A Short Duration Of Their Appointments; And, That, Even During This Short Period, The Trust Should Be Placed Not In A Few, But In A Number Of Hands.

Republican Government

With Respect To The Words "general Welfare," I Have Always Regarded Them As Qualified By The Detail Of Powers Connected With Them. To Take Them In A Literal And Unlimited Sense Would Be A Metamorphosis Of The Constitution Into A Character Which There Is A Host Of Proofs Was Not Contemplated By Its Creators.

A Sincere And Steadfast Co-operation In Promoting Such A Reconstruction Of Our Political System As Would Provide For The Permanent Liberty And Happiness Of The United States.

This Policy Of Supplying By Opposite And Rival Interests, The Defect Of Better Motives, Might Be Traced Through The Whole System Of Human Affairs, Both Private And Public.

What Is Government Itself But The Greatest Of All Reflections On Human Nature?

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 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.

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.

Congress Shall Never Disarm Any Citizen Unless Such As Are Or Have Been In Actual Rebellion.

I Acknowledge, In The Ordinary Course Of Government, That The Exposition Of The Laws And Constitution Devolves Upon The Judicial. But I Beg To Know Upon What Principle It Can Be Contended That Any One Department Draws From The Constitution Greater Powers Than Another In Marking Out The Limits Of The Powers Of The Several Departments.

May It Not Be Asked Of Every Intelligent Friend To The Liberties Of His Country, Whether The Power Exercised In Such An Act As This Ought Not To Produce Great And Universal Alarm? Whether A Rigid Execution Of Such An Act, In Time Past, Would Not Have Repressed That Information And Communication Among The People Which Is Indispensable To The Just Exercise Of Their Electoral Rights? And Whether Such An Act, If Made Perpetual, And Enforced With Rigor, Would Not, In Time To Come, Either Destroy Our Free System Of Government, Or Prepare A Convulsion That Might Prove Equally Fatal To It?

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.

A Just Security To Property Is Not Afforded By That Government, Under Which Unequal Taxes Oppress One Species Of Property And Reward Another Species.

In No Part Of The Constitution Is More Wisdom To Be Found Than In The Clause Which Confides The Question Of War Or Peace To The Legislature, And Not The Executive Department. ... The Trust And The Temptation Would Be Too Great For Any One Man.

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.

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.

Tyranny Of The Majority

Power Is Of An Encroaching Nature.

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.

A People Armed And Free, Forms A Barrier Against The Enterprises Of Ambition And Is A Bulwark For The Nation Against Foreign Invasion And Domestic Oppression.

It Is Vain To Say That Enlightened Statesmen Will Always Be Able To Adjust Their Interests. Enlightened Men Will Not Always Be At The Helm.

Religion Flourishes In Greater Purity, Without Than With The Aid Of Government.

If Man Is Not Fit To Govern Himself, How Can He Be Fit To Govern Someone Else?

America United With A Handful Of Troops, Or Without A Single Soldier, Exhibits A More Forbidding Posture To Foreign Ambition Than America Disunited, With A Hundred Thousand Veterans Ready For Combat.

Resistance To Tyranny Is Service To God.

Philosophy Is Common Sense With Big Words.

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

The Internal Effects Of A Mutable Policy Are Still More Calamitous. It Poisons The Blessings Of Liberty Itself.

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?

It Degrades From The Equal Rank Of Citizens All Those Whose Opinions In Religion Do Not Bend To Those Of The Legislative Authority. Distant As It May Be In Its Present Form From The Inquisition, It Differs From It Only In Degree.

Liberty And Order Will Never Be Perfectly Safe Until A Trespass On The Constitution Provisions For Either, Shall Be Felt With The Same Keenness That Resents And Invasion Of The Dearest Rights.

Second Amendment

If Our Nation Is Ever Taken Over, It Will Be Taken Over From Within.

I Hope This Will Find You...enjoying The Commencement Of A New Year With Every Prospect That Can Make It A Happy One.

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

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.

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.

And May I Not Be Allowed To ... Read In The Character Of The American People, In Their Devotion To True Liberty And To The Constitution Which Is Its Palladium [protection], ... A Government Which Watches Over ... The Equal Interdict [prohibition] Against Encroachments And Compacts Between Religion And The State.

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.

It Is The Duty Of Every Man To Render To The Creator Such Homage...before Any Man Can Be Considered As A Member Of Civil Society, He Must Be Considered As A Subject Of The Governor Of The Universe.

I Believe There Are More Instances Of The Abridgment Of The Freedom Of The People By Gradual And Silent Encroachments Of Those In Power, Than By Violent And Sudden Usurpations; But, On A Candid Examination Of History, We Shall Find That Turbulence, Violence, And Abuse Of Power, By The Majority Trampling On The Rights Of The Minority, Have Produced Factions And Commotions, Which, In Republics, Have, More Frequently Than Any Other Cause, Produced Despotism.

The Most Common And Durable Source Of Faction Has Been The Various And Unequal Distribution Of Property.

The Inference To Which We Are Brought Is That The Causes Of Faction Cannot Be Removed And That Relief Is Only To Be Sought In The Means Of Controlling Its Effects.

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

We've Staked Our Future On Our Ability To Follow The Ten Commandments With All Our Heart.

... 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.

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.

The Diversity In The Faculties Of Men, From Which The Rights Of Property Originate, Is Not Less An Insuperable Obstacle To An Uniformity Of Interests. The Protection Of These Faculties Is The First Object Of Government.

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.

Can It Be Of Less Consequence That The Meaning Of A Constitution Should Be Fixed And Known, Than A Meaning Of A Law Should Be So?

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.

Besides The Obscurity Arising From The Complexity Of Objects, And The Imperfection Of The Human Faculties, The Medium Through Which The Conceptions Of Men Are Conveyed To Each Other Adds A Fresh Embarrassment.

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.

I Do Not Conceive That Power Is Given To The President And Senate To Dismember The Empire, Or To Alienate Any Great, Essential Right. I Do Not Think The Whole Legislative Authority Have This Power. The Exercise Of The Power Must Be Consistent With The Object Of The Delegation.

The Free System Of Government We Have Established Is So Congenial With Reason, With Common Sense, And With A Universal Feeling, That It Must Produce Approbation And A Desire Of Imitation, As Avenues May Be Found For Truth To The Knowledge Of Nations.

A Zeal For Different Opinions Concerning Religion...[has] Divided Mankind Into Parties, Inflamed Them With Mutual Animosity, And Rendered Them Much More Disposed To Vex And Oppress Each Other Than To Co-operate For Their Common Good.

Our Opinions Agree As To The Evil, Moral, Political, And Economical, Of Slavery.

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?

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.

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.

Nothing Has Yet Been Offered To Invalidate The Doctrine That The Meaning Of The Constitution May As Well Be Ascertained By The Legislative As By The Judicial Authority.

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.

Democracies Have

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.

Democracies Have

Precedents Once Established Are So Much Positive Power.

The President Is Responsible To The Public For The Conduct Of The Person He Has Nominated And Appointed.

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.

The Truth Was That All Men Having Power Ought To Be Distrusted To A Certain Degree.

Some Degree Of Abuse Is Inseparable From The Proper Use Of Every Thing; And In No Instance Is This More True Than In That Of The Press. It Has Accordingly Been Decided, By The Practice Of The States, That It Is Better To Leave A Few Of Its Noxious Branches To Their Luxuriant Growth, Than, By Pruning Them Away, To Injure The Vigor Of Those Yielding The Proper Fruits.

If Men Were Angels, No Government Would Be Necessary.

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.

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

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?

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.

In The Compound Republic Of America, The Power Surrendered By The People Is First Divided Between Two Distinct Governments, And Then The Portion Allotted To Each Subdivided Among Distinct And Separate Governments. Hence A Double Security Arises To The Rights Of The People. The Different Governments Will Control Each Other, At The Same Time That Each Will Be Controlled By Itself.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

But Ambitious Encroachments Of The Federal Government, On The Authority Of The State Governments, Would Not Excite The Opposition Of A Single State, Or Of A Few States Only. They Would Be Signals Of General Alarm . . . But What Degree Of Madness Could Ever Drive The Federal Government To Such An Extremity.

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?

The Appointment Of Senators By The State Legislatures . . . Is Recommended By The Double Advantage Of Favoring A Select Appointment, And Of Giving To The State Governments Such An Agency In The Formation Of The Federal Government, As Must Secure The Authority Of The Former.

The Personal Right To Acquire Property, Which Is A Natural Right, Gives To Property, When Acquired, A Right To Protection, As A Social Right.

Respect For Character Is Always Diminished In Proportion To The Number Among Whom The Blame Or Praise Is To Be Divided.

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.

Liberty May Be Endangered By The Abuse Of Liberty, But Also By The Abuse Of Power.

These Examples, Though As Unfit For The Imitation, As They Are Repugnant To The Genius Of America, Are Notwithstanding . . . Very Instructive Proofs Of The Necessity Of Some Institution That Will Blend Stability With Liberty.

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.

Liberty Is To Faction What Air Is To Fire.

Public Opinion Sets Bounds To Every Government, And Is The Real Sovereign In Every Free One.

America Was Indebted To Immigration For Her Settlement And Prosperity. That Part Of America Which Had Encouraged Them Most Had Advanced Most Rapidly In Population, Agriculture And The Arts.

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.

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

The Most That The Convention Could Do In Such A Situation, Was To Avoid The Errors Suggested By The Past Experience Of Other Countries, As Well As Of Our Own; And To Provide A Convenient Mode Of Rectifying Their Own Errors, As Future Experience May Unfold Them.

Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting An Establishment Of Religion, Or Prohibiting The Free Exercise Thereof.

Secular Society

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

The Liberal Appropriations Made By The Legislature Of Kentucky For A General System Of Education Cannot Be Too Much Applauded . . . . Learned Institutions Ought To Be The Favorite Objects With Every Free People. They Throw That Light Over The Public Mind Which Is The Best Security Against Crafty And Dangerous Encroachments On The Public Liberty . . . . 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?

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. They Are More: They Are The Best Basis Of Public Liberty, And The Strongest Bulwark Of Public Safety. It Follows, That The Greater The Proportion Of This Class To The Whole Society, The More Free, The More Independent, And The More Happy Must Be The Society Itself.

It Is Certain That Every Class Is Interested In [educational] Establishments Which Give To The Human Mind Its Highest Improvements, And To Every Country Its Truest And Most Durable Celebrity.

The Executive Has No Right, In Any Case, To Decide The Question, Whether There Is Or Is Not Cause For Declaring War.

Tyranny Founding Fathers

The Power To Declare War, Including The Power Of Judging The Causes Of War, Is Fully And Exclusively Vested In The Legislature.

The Invasion Of Private Rights Is Chiefly To Be Apprehended, Not From Acts Of Government Contrary To The Sense Of Its Constituents, But From Acts In Which The Government Is The Mere Instrument Of The Major Number Of The Constituents.

The Experience Of The United States Is A Happy Disproof Of The Error So Long Rooted In The Unenlightened Minds Of Well Meaning Christians, As Well As In The Corrupt Hearts Of Persecuting Usurpers, That Without A Legal Incorporation Of Religious And Civil Polity, Neither Could Be Supported. A Mutual Independence Is Found Most Friendly To Practical Religion, To Social Harmony, And To Political Prosperity.

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.

Torrents Of Blood Have Been Spilt In The World In Vain Attempts Of The Secular Arm To Extinguish Religious Discord, By Proscribing All Differences In Religious Opinions.

The Better Proof Of Reverence For That Holy Name Would Be Not To Profane It By Making It A Topic Of Legislative Discussion.

[christianity] Existed And Flourishes, Not Only Without The Support Of Human Laws, But In Spite Of Every Opposition From Them.

War Should Only Be Declared By The Authority Of The People, Whose Toils And Treasures Are To Support Its Burdens, Instead Of The Government Which Is To Reap Its Fruits.

How Could A Readiness For War In Time Of Peace Be Safely Prohibited, Unless We Could Prohibit, In Like Manner, The Preparations And Establishments Of Every Hostile Nation?

For The Same Reason That The Members Of The State Legislatures Will Be Unlikely To Attach Themselves Sufficiently To National Objects, The Members Of The Federal Legislature Will Be Likely To Attach Themselves Too Much To Local Objects.

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.

The Legislative Department Is Everywhere Extending The Sphere Of Its Activity And Drawing All Power Into Its Impetuous Vortex.

It Would Have Marked A Want Of Foresight In The Convention, Which Our Own Experience Would Have Rendered Inexcusable.

Constitutional Convention

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.

Is The Appointment Of Chaplains To The Two Houses Of Congress Consistent With The Constitution, And With The Pure Principle Of Religious Freedom? In Strictness The Answer On Both Points Must Be In The Negative. The Constitution Of The U. S. Forbids Everything Like An Establishment Of A National Religion. The Law Appointing Chaplains Establishes A Religious Worship For The National Representatives, To Be Performed By Ministers Of Religion, Elected By A Majority Of Them, And These Are To Be Paid Out Of The National Taxes. Does This Not Involve The Principle Of A National Establishment ... ?

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.

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

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.

Money Cannot Be Applied To The *general Welfare*, Otherwise Than By An Application Of It To Some *particular* Measure Conducive To The General Welfare. Whenever, Therefore, Money Has Been Raised By The General Authority, And Is To Be Applied To A Particular Measure, A Question Arises Whether The Particular Measure Be Within The Enumerated Authorities Vested In Congress. If It Be, The Money Requisite For It May Be Applied To It; If It Be Not, No Such Application Can Be Made.

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.

The Purpose Of The Constitution Is To Restrict The Majority's Ability To Harm A Minority.

There Is In Every Breast A Sensibility To Marks Of Honor, Of Favor, Of Esteem, And Of Confidence, Which, Apart From All Considerations Of Interest, Is Some Pledge For Grateful And Benevolent Returns. Ingratitude Is A Common Topic Of Declamation Against Human Nature; And It Must Be Confessed, That Instances Of It Are But Too Infrequent And Flagrant Both In Public And In Private Life. But The Universal And Extreme Indignation Which It Inspires, Is Itself A Proof Of The Energy And Prevalence Of The Contrary Sentiment.

I Have Received Your Letter Of The 6th, With The Eloquent Discourse Delivered At The Consecration Of The Jewish Synagogue. Having Ever Regarded The Freedom Of Religious Opinions And Worship As Equally Belonging To Every Sect, And The Secure Enjoyment Of It As The Best Human Provision For Bringing All Either Into The Same Way Of Thinking, Or Into That Mutual Charity Which Is The Only Substitute, I Observe With Pleasure The View You Give Of The Spirit In Which Your Sect Partake Of The Blessings Offered By Our Government And Laws.

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.

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

Government Lies

The Smaller The Number And The More Permanent And Conspicuous The Station Of Men In Power, The Stronger Must Be The Interest Which They Will Individually Feel In Whatever Concerns The Government.

With Regard To Banks, They Have Taken Too Deep And Too Wide A Root In Social Transactions, To Be Got Rid Of Altogether, If That Were Desirable. They Have A Hold On Public Opinion, Which Alone Would Make It Expedient To Aim Rather At The Improvement, Than The Suppression Of Them. As Now Generally Constituted, Their Advantages Whatever They Be, Are Outweighed By The Excesses Of Their Paper Emissions, And The Partialities And Corruption With Which They Are Administered.

[it] Is Indispensable That Some Provision Should Be Made For Defending The Community Agst [against] The Incapicity, Negligence Or Perfidy Of The Chief Magistrate.

The Diversity In The Faculties Of Men, From Which The Rights Of Property Originate, Is Not Less An Insuperable Obstacle To A Uniformity Of Interests. The Protection Of These Faculties Is The First Object Of Government. From The Protection Of Different And Unequal Faculties Of Acquiring Property, The Possession Of Different Degrees And Kinds Of Property Immediately Results; And From The Influence Of These On The Sentiments And Views Of The Respective Proprietors, Ensues A Division Of The Society Into Different Interests And Parties.

A Republic, By Which I Mean A Government In Which The Scheme Of Representation Takes Place, Opens A Different Prospect And Promises The Cure For Which We Are Seeking.

Cursed Be All That Learning That Is Contrary To The Cross Of Christ.

The Aim Of Every Political Constitution, Is Or Ought To Be First To Obtain For Rulers Men Who Possess Most Wisdom To Discern, And Most Virtue To Pursue, The Common Good Of Society; And In The Next Place, To Take The Most Effectual Precautions For Keeping Them Virtuous Whilst They Continue To Hold Their Public Trust.

A Bad Cause Seldom Fails To Betray Itself.

Union Of Religious Sentiments Begets A Surprising Confidence, And Ecclesiastical Establishments Tend To Great Ignorance And Corruption; All Of Which Facilitate The Execution Of Mischievous Projects.

The First Question That Offers Itself Is, Whether The General Form And Aspect Of The Government Be Strictly Republican? It Is Evident That No Other Form Would Be Reconcileable With The Genius Of The People Of America; With The Fundamental Principles Of The Revolution; Or With That Honourable Determination Which Animates Every Votary Of Freedom, To Rest All Our Political Experiments On The Capacity Of Mankind For Self-government.

The Public Affairs Of The Union Are Spread Throughout A Very Extensive Region, And Are Extremely Diversified By The Local Affairs Connected With Them, And Can With Difficulty Be Learnt In Any Other Place, Than In The Central Councils, To Which A Knowledge Of Them Will Be Brought By The Representatives Of Every Part Of The Empire. Yet Some Knowledge Of The Affairs, And Even Of The Laws Of All The States, Ought To Be Possessed By The Members From Each Of The States.

Because The Bill In Reserving A Certain Parcel Of Land In The United States For The Use Of Said Baptist Church Comprises A Principle And A Precedent For The Appropriation Of Funds Of The United States For The Use And Support Of Religious Societies, Contrary To The Article Of The Constitution Which Declares That "congress Shall Make No Law Respecting A Religious Establishment."

Learned Institutions Ought To Be Favorite Objects With Every Free People. They Throw That Light Over The Public Mind Which Is The Best Security Against Crafty And Dangerous Encroachments On The Public Liberty.

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.

[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.

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.

I Am Unable To Conceive That The State Legislatures Which Must Feel So Many Motives To Watch, And Which Possess So Many Means Of Counteracting The Federal Legislature, Would Fail Either To Detect Or To Defeat A Conspiracy Of The Latter Against The Liberties Of Their Common Constituencies.

Those Who Proposed The Constitution Knew, And Those Who Ratified The Constitution Also Knew That This Is...a Limited Government Tied Down To Specified Powers....it Was Never Supposed Or Suspected That The Old Congress Could Give Away The Money Of The States To Encourage Agriculture Or For Any Other Purpose They Pleased.

We Are Right To Take Alarm At The First Experiment Upon Our Liberties.

Tyranny Founding Fathers

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.

The Rights Of Persons, And The Rights Of Property, Are The Objects, For The Protection Of Which Government Was Instituted.

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.

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.

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?

Each Generation Should Be Made To Bear The Burden Of Its Own Wars, Instead Of Carrying Them On, At The Expense Of Other Generations.

Temporary Deviations From Fundamental Principles Are Always More Or Less Dangerous. When The First Pretext Fails, Those Who Become Interested In Prolonging The Evil Will Rarely Be At A Loss For Other Pretexts.

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.

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

[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.

A Well-instructed People Alone Can Be Permanently A Free People.

The Constitution Of The United States Was Created By The People Of The United States Composing The Respective States, Who Alone Had The Right.

The Latent Causes Of Faction Are Thus Sown In The Nature Of Man; And We See Them Everywhere Brought Into Different Degrees Of Activity, According To The Different Circumstances Of Civil Society.

So Strong Is This Propensity Of Mankind To Fall Into Mutual Animosities, That Where No Substantial Occasion Presents Itself, The Most Frivolous And Fanciful Distinctions Have Been Sufficient To Kindle Their Unfriendly Passions And Excite Their Most Violent Conflicts. But The Most Common And Durable Source Of Factions Has Been The Various And Unequal Distribution Of Property.

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.

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

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

Democracy Is The Most Vile Form Of Government.

The Means Of Defence Against Foreign Danger Have Been Always The Instruments Of Tyranny At Home. Among The Romans It Was A Standing Maxim To Excite A War, Whenever A Revolt Was Apprehended. Throughout All Europe, The Armies Kept Up Under The Pretext Of Defending, Have Enslaved The People.

Religious Bondage Shackles And Debilitates The Mind And Unfits It For Every Noble Enterprise, Every Expanded Prospect.

Secular Society

The Two Great Points Of Difference Between A Democracy And A Republic Are: First, The Delegation Of The Government, In The Latter,to A Small Number Of Citizens Elected By The Rest; Secondly, The Greater Number Of Citizens And Greater Sphere Of Country Over Which The Latter May Be Extended.

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.

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.

[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.

One Hundred And Seventy-three Despots Would Surely Be As Oppressive As One.

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.

It Is The Mutual Duty Of All To Practice Christian Forbearance, Love, And Charity Toward Each Other.

Good Conscience Is The Most Valuable Asset Of All!

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.

It Will Be Remembered, That A Frequent Recurrence To Fundamental Principles Is Solemnly Enjoined By Most Of The State Constitutions, And Particularly By Our Own, As A Necessary Safeguard Against The Danger Of Degeneracy, To Which Republics Are Liable, As Well As Other Governments, Though In A Less Degree Than 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

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

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.

Conscience Is The Most Sacred Of All Property.

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.

If We Are To Take For The Criterion Of Truth The Majority Of Suffrages, They Ought To Be Gotten From Those Philosophic And Patriotic Citizens Who Cultivate Their Reason.

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.

Another Advantage Accruing From This Ingredient In The Constitution Of A Senate, Is The Additional Impediment It Must Prove Against Improper Acts Of Legislation. No Law Or Resolution Can Now Be Passed Without The Concurrence First Of A Majority Of The People, And Then Of A Majority Of The States.

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?

[in The Case Of] Dangerous Exercise Of Other Powers, Not Granted By The Said Compact, The States, Who Are Parties Thereto, Have The Right, And Are Duty Bound, To Interpose For Arresting The Progress Of The Evil.

If Men Were Angels, There Would Be No Need Of Government.

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.

All Power In Human Hands Is Liable To Be Abused.

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