Background Image

...

In Civilized Communities, Property As Well As Personal Rights Is An Essential Object Of The Laws, Which Encourage Industry By Securing The Enjoyment Of Its Fruits; That Industry From Which Property Results, And That Enjoyment Which Consists Not Merely In Its Immediate Use, But In Its Posthumous Destination To Objects Of Choice, And Of Kindred Affection. In A Just And Free Government, Therefore, The Rights Both Of Property And Of Persons Ought To Be Effectually Guarded.

-James Madison

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

In Civilized Communities, Property

James Madison

...

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.

Views: 6

Topic

More From James Madison

The Alien Bill Proposed In The Senate Is A Monster That Must Forever Disgrace Its Parents.

There Is Not A Shadow Of Right In The General Government To Intermingle With Religion. Its Least Interference With It Would Be A Most Flagrant Usurpation.

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.

The Latent Causes Of Faction Are Thus Sown In The Nature Of Man.

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.

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.

Truth [comes Only] From Those ... Who Cultivate Their Reason.

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

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

Secular Society

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

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

Secular Society

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

The Powers Of The Federal Government ... Result From The Compact To Which The States Are Parties, [and Are] Limited By The Plain Sense And Intention Of The Instrument Constituting That Compact.

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

In This Relation, Then, The Proposed Government Cannot Be Deemed A National One; Since Its Jurisdiction Extends To Certain Enumerated Objects Only, And Leaves To The Several States, A Residuary And Inviolable Sovereignty Over All Other Objects.

We Are Teaching The World The Great Truth That Governments Do Better Without Kings & Nobles Than With Them. The Merit Will Be Doubled By The Other Lesson That Religion Flourishes In Greater Purity, Without Than With The Aid Of Government.

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.

Wherever There Is Interest And Power To Do Wrong, Wrong Will Generally Be Done.

The Very Definition Of Tyranny Is When All Powers Are Gathered Under One Place.

It Is A Misfortune Incident To Republican Government, Though In A Less Degree Than To Other Governments, That Those Who Administer It, May Forget Their Obligations To Their Constituents, And Prove Unfaithful To Their Important Trust.

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.

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.

Complaints Are Everywhere Heard From Our Most Considerate And Virtuous Citizens, Equally The Friends Of Public And Private Faith, And Of Public And Personal Liberty, That Our Governments Are Too Unstable, That The Public Good Is Disregarded In The Conflicts Of Rival Parties, And That Measures Are Too Often Decided, Not According To The Rules Of Justice And The Rights Of The Minor Party, But By The Superior Force Of An Interested And Overbearing Majority.

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.

If They Are Incorporated Into The Constitution, Independent Tribunals Of Justice Will Consider Themselves In A Peculiar Manner The Guardians Of Those Rights; They Will Be An Impenetrable Bulwark Against Every Assumption Of Power In The Legislative Or Executive; They Will Be Naturally Led To Resist Every Encroachment Upon Rights Expressly Stipulated For In The Constitution By The Declaration Of Rights.

Ecclesiastical Establishments Tend To Great Ignorance And Corruption

Religious Truth

What Is The Structure Of Government That Will Best Guard Against The Precipitate Counsels And Factious Combinations For Unjust Purposes, Without A Sacrifice Of The Fundamental Principle Of Republicanism?

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.

[property] Embraces Everything To Which A Man May Attach A Value And Have A Right.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Nothing Could Be More Irrational Than To Give The People Power, And To Withhold From Them Information Without Which Power Is Abused.

The Right Of Freely Examining Public Characters And Measures, And Of Free Communication Among The People Thereon . . . Has Ever Been Justly Deemed The Only Effectual Guardian Of Every Other Right.

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.

This Constitution, And The Laws Of The United States Which Shall Be Made In Pursuance Thereof; And All Treaties Made, Or Which Shall Be Made, Under The Authority Of The United States, Shall Be The Supreme Law Of The Land.

Constitution Of The United States

Testimony Of All Ages Forces Us To Admit That War Is Among The Most Dangerous Enemies To Liberty, And That The Executive Is The Branch Most Favored By It Of All The Branches Of Power.

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.

In Framing A Government Which Is To Be Administered By Men Over Men You Must First Enable The Government To Control The Governed; And In The Next Place Oblige It To Control Itself.

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

The Real Wonder Is That So Many Difficulties Should Have Been Surmounted [in The Federal Convention], And Surmounted With A Unanimity Almost As Unprecedented As It Must Have Been Unexpected. It Is Impossible For Any Man Of Candor To Reflect On This Circumstance Without Partaking Of The Astonishment. It Is Impossible For The Man Of Pious Reflection Not To Perceive In It A Finger Of That Almighty Hand Which Has Been So Frequently And Signally Extended To Our Relief In The Critical Stages Of The Revolution.

... Large And Permanent Military Establishments ... Are Forbidden By The Principles Of Free Government, And Against The Necessity Of Which The Militia Were Meant To Be A Constitutional Bulwark.

Let Me Recommend The Best Medicine In The World: A Long Journey, At A Mild Season, Through A Pleasant Country, In Easy Stages.

Frequent Elections Are Unquestionably The Only Policy By Which This Dependence And Sympathy Can Be Effectually Secured. But What Particular Degree Of Frequency May Be Absolutely Necessary For The Purpose, Does Not Appear To Be Susceptible Of Any Precise Calculation; And Must Depend On A Variety Of Circumstances With Which It May Be Connected. Let Us Consult Experience, The Guide That Ought Always To Be Followed, Whenever It Can Be Found.

There Is One View Of The Subject Which Ought To Have Its Influence On Those Who Espouse Doctrines Which Strike At The Authoritative Origin And Efficacious Operation Of The Government Of The United States. The Government Of The U.s. Like All Governments Free In Their Principles, Rests On Compact; A Compact, Not Between The Government & The Parties Who Formed & Live Under It; But Among The Parties Themselves, And The Strongest Of Governments Are Those In Which The Compacts Were Most Fairly Formed And Most Faithfully Executed.

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.

It Is Sufficiently Obvious, That Persons And Property Are The Two Great Subjects On Which Governments Are To Act; And That The Rights Of Persons, And The Rights Of Property, Are The Objects, For The Protection Of Which Government Was Instituted. These Rights Cannot Well Be Separated.

Where An Excess Of Power Prevails, Property Of No Sort Is Duly Respected. No Man Is Safe In His Opinions, His Person, His Faculties, Or His Possessions.

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.

Extend The Sphere And You Take In A Greater Variety Of Parties And Interests; You Make It Less Probable That A Majority Of The Whole Will Have Common Motive To Invade The Rights Of Other Citizens.

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.

The General Government Is Proscribed From The Interfering, In Any Manner Whatsoever, In Matters Respecting Religion; And It May Be Thought To Do This, In Ascertaining Who, And Who Are Not, Ministers Of The Gospel.

The Ultimate Authority Resides In The People, And That If The Federal Government Got Too Powerful And Overstepped Its Authority, Then The People Would Develop Plans Of Resistance And Resort To Arms.

[in Government] The Constant Aim Is To Divide And Arrange The Several Offices In Such A Manner As That Each May Be A Check On The Other-that The Private Interest Of Every Individual May Be A Sentinel Over The Public Rights.

An Alliance Or Coalition Between Government And Religion Cannot Be Too Carefully Guarded Against......every New And Successful Example Therefore Of A Perfect Separation Between Ecclesiastical And Civil Matters Is Of Importance........religion And Government Will Exist In Greater Purity, Without (rather) Than With The Aid Of Government.

Landholders Ought To Have A Share In The Government To Support These Invaluable Interests And Check The Other Many. They Ought To Be So Constituted As To Protect The Minority Of The Opulent Against The Majority.

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.

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

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. To Guard A Man's House As His Castle, To Pay Public And Enforce Private Debts With The Most Exact Faith, Can Give No Title To Invade A Man's Conscience, Which Is More Sacred Than His Castle, Or To Withhold From It That Debt Of Protection For Which The Public Faith Is Pledged By The Very Nature And Original Conditions Of The Social Pact.

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.

A Public Debt Is A Public Curse.

All That Seems Indispensible In Stating The Account Between The Dead And The Living, Is To See That The Debts Against The Latter Do Not Exceed The Advances Made By The Former.

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

...to Support The Constitution, Which Is The Cement Of The Union, As Well In Its Limitations As In Its Authorities; To Respect The Rights And Authorities Reserved To The States And To The People As Equally Incorporated With And Essential To The Success Of The General System;... To Keep Within The Requisite Limits A Standing Military Force, Always Remembering That 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

[n]o Religious Test Shall Ever Be Required As A Qualification To Any Office Or Public Trust Under The United States.

A Local Spirit Will Infallibly Prevail Much More In The Members Of Congress Than A National Spirit Will Prevail In The Legislatures Of The Particular States.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 ... ?

What Is Here A Right Towards Men, Is A Duty Towards The Creator.

War Contains So Much Folly, As Well As Wickedness, That Much Is To Be Hoped From The Progress Of Reason.

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

As Long As The Reason Of Man Continues Fallible, And He Is At Liberty To Exercise It, Different Opinions Will Be Formed. As Long As The Connection Subsists Between His Reason And His Self-love, His Opinions And Passions Will Have A Reciprocal Influence On Each Other, And The Former Will Be Objects To Which The Latter Attach Themselves.

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

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.

In Framing A System, Which We Wish To Last For Ages, We Should Not Lose Sight Of The Changes Which Ages Will Produce.

It Is Superfluous To Try By The Standards Of Theory, A Part Of The Constitution Which Is Allowed On All Hands To Be The Result Not Of Theory, But "of A Spirit Of Amity, And That Mutual Deference And Concession Which The Peculiarity Of Our Political Situation Rendered Indispensable" . . . The Equal Vote Allowed To Each State, Is At Once A Constitutional Recognition Of The Portion Of Sovereignty Remaining In The Individual States, And An Instrument For Preserving That Residuary Sovereignty.

Democracy Is The Most Vile Form Of Government.

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?

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

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.

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

Man, Who Preys Both On The Vegetable And Animal Species, Is Himself A Prey To Neither. He Too Possesses The Reproductive Principle Far Beyond The Degree Requisite For The Bare Continuance Of His Species. What Becomes Of The Surplus Of Human Life To Which This Principle Is Competent?

Another Of My Wishes Is To Depend As Little As Possible On The Labour Of Slaves.

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

It May Be Concluded That A Pure Democracy . . . Can Admit No Cure For The Mischiefs Of Faction.

Democracies Have

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

The Future And Success Of America Is Not In This Constitution, But In The Laws Of God Upon Which This Constitution Is Founded.

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.

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

If Slavery, As A National Evil, Is To Be Abolished, And It Be Just That It Be Done At The National Expense, The Amount Of The Expense Is Not A Paramount Consideration.

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.

You Give Me A Credit To Which I Have No Claim In Calling Me "the Writer Of The Constitution Of The United States." This Was Not, Like The Fabled Goddess Of Wisdom, The Offspring Of A Single Brain. It Ought To Be Regarded As The Work Of Many Heads And Many Hands.

[the Proposed Establishment] Will Have A . . . Tendency To Banish Our Citizens. . . . To Superadd A Fresh Motive To Emigration By Revoking The Liberty Which They Now Enjoy, Would Be The Same Species Of Folly Which Has Dishonoured And Depopulated Flourishing Kingdoms.

Resistance To Tyranny Is Service To God.

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.

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.

[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.

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

The Temple Through Which Alone Lies The Road To That Of Liberty.

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? The Means Of Security Can Only Be Regulated By The Means And The Danger Of Attack. They Will, In Fact, Be Ever Determined By These Rules, And By No Others . . . . If One Nation Maintains Constantly A Disciplined Army, Ready For Service Of Ambition Or Revenge, It Obliges The Most Pacific Nations Who May Be Within The Reach Of Its Enterprises To Take Corresponding Precautions.

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

The Governments Of Europe Are Afraid To Trust The People With Arms. If They Did, The People Would Certainly Shake Off The Yoke Of Tyranny, As America Did.

It May Not Be Easy, In Every Possible Case, To Trace The Line Of Separation Between The Rights Of Religion And The Civil Authority With Such Distinctness As To Avoid Collisions And Doubts On Unessential Points. The Tendency To Unsurpastion On One Side Or The Other, Or To A Corrupting Coalition Or Alliance Between Them, Will Be Best Guarded Agst. By An Entire Abstinence Of The Gov't From Interfence In Any Way Whatsoever, Beyond The Necessity Of Preserving Public Order, And Protecting Each Sect Agst. Trespasses On Its Legal Rights By Others.

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.

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.

[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.

An Oath-the Strongest Of Religious Ties.

They Can Make No Law Which Will Not Have Its Full Operation On Themselves And Their Friends, As Well As On The Great Mass Of The Society.

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

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.

One Nation Is To Another What One Individual Is To Another; With This Melancholy Distinction Perhaps, That The Former With Fewer Of The Benevolent Emotions Than The Latter, Are Under Fewer Restraints Also From Taking Undue Advantage Of The Indiscretions Of Each Other.

It Is Due To Justice; Due To Humanity; Due To Truth; Due To The Sympathies Of Our Nature; In Fine, To Our Character As A People, Both Abroad And At Home, That They Should Be Considered, As Much As Possible, In The Light Of Human Beings, And Not As Mere Property. As Such, They Are Acted On By Our Laws, And Have An Interest In Our Laws. They May Be Considered As Making A Part, Though A Degraded Part, Of The Families To Which They Belong.

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.

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.

As Compacts, Charters Of Government Are Superior In Obligation To All Others, Because They Give Effect To All Others. As Truths, None Can Be More Sacred, Because They Are Bound, On The Conscience By The Religious Sanctions Of An Oath. As Metes And Bounds Of Government, They Transcend All Other Land-marks, Because Every Public Usurpation Is An Encroachment On The Private Right, Not Of One, But Of All.

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.

The Settled Opinion Here Is That Religion Is Essentially Distinct From Civil Govt. And Exempt From Its Cognizance; That A Connection Between Them Is Injurious To Both.

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.

Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance; And A People Who Mean To Be Their Own Governors Must Arm Themselves With The Power Which Knowledge Gives.

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.

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.

Stability In Government Is Essential To National Character And To The Advantages Annexed To It, As Well As To That Repose And Confidence In The Minds Of The People, Which Are Among The Chief Blessings Of Civil Society.

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

No Distinction Seems To Be More Obvious Than That Between Spiritual And Temporal Matters. Yet Whenever They Have Been Made Objects Of Legislation, They Have Clashed And Contended With Each Other, Till One Or The Other Has Gained The Supremacy.

In Republican Government The Legislative Authority Necessarily Predominates. The Remedy For This . . . Is To Divide The Legislature Into Different Branches; And To Render Them By Different Modes Of Election, And Different Principles Of Action, As Little Connected With Each Other As The Nature Of Their Common Functions, And Their Common Dependence On The Society, Will Admit.

Strongly Guarded As Is The Separation Between Religion And Government In The Constitution Of The United States, The Danger Of Encroachment By Ecclesiastical Bodies May Be Illustrated By Precedents Already Furnished In Their Short History.

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.

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.

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.

A Certain Degree Of Preparation For War . . . Affords Also The Best Security For The Continuance Of Peace.

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.

Nor Is Any Evidence To Be Found, Either In History Or Human Nature, That Nations Are To Be Bribed Out Of A Spirit Of Encroachment And Aggression, By Humiliations Which Nourish Their Pride, Or By Concessions That Extend Their Resources And Power.

In War, Too, The Discretionary Power Of The Executive Is Extended; Its Influence In Dealing Out Offices, Honors, And Emoluments Is Multiplied; And All The Meaning Of Seducing The Minds, Are Added To Those Of Subduing The Force, Of The People. The Same Malignant Aspect In Republicanism May Be Traced In The Inequality Of Fortunes, And The Opportunities Of Fraud, Growing Out Of A State Of War, And In The Degeneracy Of Manners And Morals, Engendered By Both. No Nation Could Preserve Its Freedom In The Midst Of Continual Warfare.

Is There A Legislative Power In Fact, Not Expressly Prohibited By The Constitution, Which Might Not, According To The Doctrine Of The Court, Be Exercised As A Means Of Carrying Into Effect Some Specified Power?

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.

To Suppose That Any Form Of Government Will Secure Liberty Or Happiness Without Any Virtue In The People, Is A Chimerical Idea.

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.

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.

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 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.

But The Mere Circumstance Of Complexion Cannot Deprive Them Of The Character Of Men.

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

Union Of Religious Sentiments Begets A Surprising Confidence.

The Apportionment Of Taxes On The Various Descriptions Of Property Is An Act Which Seems To Require The Most Exact Impartiality; Yet There Is, Perhaps, No Legislative Act In Which Greater Opportunity And Temptation Are Given To A Predominant Party To Trample On The Rules Of Justice. Every Shilling Which They Overburden The Inferior Number Is A Shilling Saved To Their Own Pockets.

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.

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.

A Universal Peace, It Is To Be Feared, Is In The Catalogue Of Events, Which Will Never Exist But In The Imaginations Of Visionary Philosophers, Or In The Breasts Of Benevolent Enthusiasts.

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.

I Wish Not To Be Regarded As An Advocate For The Particular Organizations Of The Several State Governments . . . They Carry Strong Marks Of The Haste, And Still Stronger Marks Of The Inexperience, Under Which They Were Framed.

[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.

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.

It May Well Happen That The Public Voice, Pronounced By The Representatives Of The People, Will Be More Constant To The Public Good Than If Pronounced By The People Themselves.

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.

The Important Distinction So Well Understood In America Between A Constitution Established By The People, And Unalterable By The Government; And A Law Established By The Government, And Alterable By The Government, Seems To Have Been Little Understood And Less Observed In Any Other Country. Wherever The Supreme Power Of Legislation Has Resided, Has Been Supposed To Reside Also, A Full Power To Change The Form Of Government.

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 Bad Cause Seldom Fails To Betray Itself.

Since It Is Impossible For The People Spontaneously And Universally, To Move In Concert Towards Their Object; And It Is Therefore Essential, That Such Changes Be Instituted By Some Informal And Unauthorized Propositions, Made By Some Patriotic And Respectable Citizen Or Number Of Citizens.

Whilst We Assert For Ourselves A Freedom To Embrace, To Profess And Observe The Religion Which We Believe To Be Of Divine Origin, We Cannot Deny Equal Freedom To Those Whose Minds Have Not Yet Yielded To The Evidence Which Has Convinced Us. If This Freedom Be Abused, It Is An Offense Against God, Not Against Man:to God, Therefore, Not To Man, Must An Account Of It Be Rendered.

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.

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.

Let The Influx Of Money Be Ever So Great, If There Be No Confidence, Property Will Sink In Value... The Circulation Of Confidence Is Better Than The Circulation Of Money.

Oppressors Can Tyrannize Only When They Achieve A Standing Army, An Enslaved Press, And A Disarmed Populace.

Measures Are Too Often Decided, Not According To The Rules Of Justice And The Rights Of The Minor Party, But By The Superior Force Of An Interested And Overbearing Majority.

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.

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.

A Dependence On The People Is, No Doubt, The Primary Control On The Government; But Experience Has Taught Mankind The Necessity Of Auxiliary Precautions.

To What Expedient Then Shall We Finally Resort, For Maintaining In Practice The Necessary Partition Of Power Among The Several Departments, As Laid Down In The Constitution? The Only Answer That Can Be Given Is, That As All These Exterior Provisions Are Found To Be Inadequate, The Defect Must Be Supplied, By So Contriving The Interior Structure Of The Government, As That Its Several Constituent Parts May, By Their Mutual Relations, Be The Means Of Keeping Each Other In Their Proper Places.

The Eyes Of The World Being Thus On Our Country, It Is Put The More On Its Good Behavior, And Under The Greater Obligation Also, To Do Justice To The Tree Of Liberty By An Exhibition Of The Fine Fruits We Gather From It.

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.

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.

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

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

No Free Country Has Ever Been Without Parties, Which Are A Natural Offspring Of Freedom.

It Will Be Of Little Avail To The People That The Laws Are Made By Men Of Their Own Choice If The Laws Be So Voluminous That They Cannot Be Read, Or So Incoherent That They Cannot Be Understood.

I Consider It…as Subverting The Fundamental And Characteristic Principle Of The Government…and As Bidding Defiance To The Sense In Which The Constitution Is Known To Have Been Proposed, Advocated, And Adopted. 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.

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.

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.

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 People Shall Not Be Deprived Or Abridged Of Their Right To Speak, Or To Publish Their Sentiments; And The Freedom Of The Press, As One Of The Great Bulwarks Of Liberty, Shall Be Inviolable.

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.

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.

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.

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

The Primary Function Of Government Is To Protect The Minority Of The Opulent From The Majority Of The Poor.

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

Trending Author

Mireille Mathieu

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Henrique Capriles Radonski

Category