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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.

-James Madison

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In War, Too, The

James Madison

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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.

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I Flatter Myself [we] Have In This Country Extinguished Forever The Ambitious Hope Of Making Laws For The Human Mind.

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.

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.

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.

[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.

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.

It Is To Be The Assent And Ratification Of The Several States, Derived From The Supreme Authority In Each State, The Authority Of The People Themselves. The Act, Therefore Establishing The Constitution, Will Not Be A National, But A Federal Act.

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?

[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.

What Prudent Merchant Will Hazard His Fortunes In Any New Branch Of Commerce When He Knows Not That His Plans May Be Rendered Unlawful Before They Can Be Executed?

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.

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.

Our Constitution Represents The Work Of The Finger Of Almighty God.

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?

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

At First View It Might Seem Not To Square With The Republican Theory, To Suppose Either That A Majority Have Not The Right, Or That A Minority Will Have The Force To Subvert A Government . . . . But Theoretic Reasoning In This, As In Most Other Cases, Must Be Qualified By The Lessons Of Practice.

If It Be Asked What Is To Restrain The House Of Representatives From Making Legal Discriminations In Favor Of Themselves And A Particular Class Of The Society? I Answer, The Genius Of The Whole System, The Nature Of Just And Constitutional Laws, And Above All The Vigilant And Manly Spirit Which Actuates The People Of America, A Spirit Which Nourishes Freedom, And In Return Is Nourished By It.

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?

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.

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.

In Suits At Common Law, Trial By Jury In Civil Cases Is As Essential To Secure The Liberty Of The People As Any One Of The Pre-existent Rights Of Nature.

[a]s It Must Be Admitted That The Remedy Under The Constitution Lies Where It Has Been Marked Out By The Constitution; And That No Appeal Can Be Consistently Made From That Remedy By Those Who Were And Still Profess To Be Parties To It, But The Appeal To The Parties Themselves Having An Authority Above The Constitution Or To The Law Of Nature & Of Nature's God.

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

The Advancement And Diffusion Of Knowledge Is The Only Guardian Of True Liberty.

Inspirational Life

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Secular Society

Nothing Is So Contagious As Opinion, Especially On Questions Which, Being Susceptible Of Very Different Glosses, Beget In The Mind A Distrust Of Itself.

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

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.

If We Resort For A Criterion To The Different Principles On Which Different Forms Of Government Are Established, We May Define A Republic To Be, Or At Least May Bestow That Name On, A Government Which Derives All Its Powers Directly Or Indirectly From The Great Body Of The People, And Is Administered By Persons Holding Their Offices During Pleasure For A Limited Period, Or During Good Behavior.

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.

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.

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

The Management Of Foreign Relations Appears To Be The Most Susceptible Of Abuse Of All The Trusts Committed To A Government, Because They Can Be Concealed Or Disclosed, Or Disclosed In Such Parts And At Such Times As Will Best Suit Particular Views; And Because The Body Of The People Are Less Capable Of Judging, And Are More Under The Influence Of Prejudices, On That Branch Of Their Affairs, Than Of Any Other. Perhaps It Is A Universal Truth That The Loss Of Liberty At Home Is To Be Charged To Provisions Against Danger, Real Or Pretended, From Abroad.

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.

Good Conscience Is The Most Valuable Asset Of All!

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

No Man Will Subject Himself To The Ridicule Of Pretending That Any Natural Connection Subsists Between The Sun Or The Seasons, And The Period Within Which Human Virtue Can Bear The Temptations Of Power. Happily For Mankind, Liberty Is Not, In This Respect, Confined To Any Single Point Of Time, But Lies Within Extremes, Which Afford Sufficient Latitude For All The Variations Which May Be Required By The Various Situations And Circumstances Of Civil Society.

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.

The Nation Which Reposes On The Pillow Of Political Confidence, Will Sooner Or Later End Its Political Existence In A Deadly Lethargy.

The People Can Never Willfully Betray Their Own Interests: But They May Possibly Be Betrayed By The Representatives Of The People; And The Danger Will Be Evidently Greater Where The Whole Legislative Trust Is Lodged In The Hands Of One Body Of Men, Than Where The Concurrence Of Separate And Dissimilar Bodies Is Required In Every Public Act.

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.

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

What Becomes Of The Surplus Of Human Life? It Is Either, 1st. Destroyed By Infanticide, As Among The Chinese And Lacedemonians; Or 2d. It Is Stifled Or Starved, As Among Other Nations Whose Population Is Commensurate To Its Food; Or 3d. It Is Consumed By Wars And Endemic Diseases; Or 4th. It Overflows, By Emigration, To Places Where A Surplus Of Food Is Attainable.

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

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

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

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 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.

We Have The Self-evident Right To Regulate Our Trade According To Our Own Will And Our Own Interest . . . . This Right Can Be Denied To No Independent Nation.

People Will Continue To Seek Justice Until It Is Found, Or Until Liberty Is Lost In The Pursuit.

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.

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.

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

The 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

In The First Place, It Is To Be Remembered, That The General Government Is Not To Be Charged With The Whole Power Of Making And Administering Laws. Its Jurisdiction Is Limited To Certain Enumerated Objects, Which Concern All The Members Of The Republic, But Which Are Not To Be Attained By The Separate Provisions Of Any.

[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.

It Has Been Said That All Government Is An Evil. It Would Be More Proper To Say That The Necessity Of Any Government Is A Misfortune. This Necessity However Exists; And The Problem To Be Solved Is, Not What Form Of Government Is Perfect, But Which Of The Forms Is Least Imperfect.

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

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

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

Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance.

We May Be Assured By Past Experience, That Such A Practice [as Some States Charging High Taxes On Goods From Other States] Would Be Introduced By Future Contrivances; And Both By That And A Common Knowledge Of Human Affairs, That It Would Nourish Unceasing Animosities, And Not Improbably Terminate In Serious Interruptions Of The Public Tranquility.

Democracy Is The Most Vile Form Of Government.

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.

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.

The Great Objects Which Presented Themselves [to The Constitutional Convention] ... Formed A Task More Difficult Than Can Be Well Conceived By Those Who Were Not Concerned In The Execution Of It. Adding To These Considerations The Natural Diversity Of Human Opinions On All New And Complicated Subjects, It Is Impossible To Consider The Degree Of Concord Which Ultimately Prevailed As Less Than A Miracle.

Power Is Of An Encroaching Nature.

American Citizens Are Instrumental In Carrying On A Traffic In Enslaved Africans, Equally In Violation Of The Laws Of Humanity And In Defiance Of Those Of Their Own Country. The Same Just And Benevolent Motives Which Produced Interdiction In Force Against This Criminal Conduct Will Doubtless Be Felt By Congress In Devising Further Means Of Suppressing The Evil.

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.

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

Besides The Advantage Of Being Armed, Which The Americans Possess Over The People Of Almost Every Other Nation.... Notwithstanding The Military Establishments In The Several Kingdoms Of Europe, Which Are Carried As Far As The Public Resources Will Bear, The Governments Are Afraid To Trust The People With Arms.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If The People Are To Be Our Governors, They Must Arm Themselves With Knowledge.

[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.

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.

...several Of The First Presidents, Including Jefferson And Madison, Generally Refused To Issue Public Prayers, Despite Importunings To Do So. Under Pressure, Madison Relented In The War Of 1812, But Held To His Belief That Chaplains Shouldn't Be Appointed To The Military Or Be Allowed To Open Congress.

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.

Liberty Is To Faction What Air Is To Fire.

The Danger Of Silent Accumulations & Encroachments By Ecclesiastical Bodies Have Not Sufficiently Engaged Attention In The U.s. [...] Besides The Danger Of A Direct Mixture Of Religion & Civil Government, There Is An Evil Which Ought To Be Guarded Against In The Indefinite Accumulation Of Property From The Capacity Of Holding It In Perpetuity By Ecclesiastical Corporations. [...] The Establishment Of The Chaplainship To Congs. Is A Palpable Violation Of Equal Rights, As Well As Of Constitutional Principles.

Union Of Religious Sentiments Begets A Surprising Confidence.

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.

At Cheaper And Nearer Seats Of Learning Parents With Slender Incomes May Place Their Sons In A Course Of Education Putting Them On A Level With The Sons Of The Richest.

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.

Americans Need Not Fear The Federal Government Because They Enjoy The Advantage Of Being Armed, Which You Possess Over The People Of Almost Every Other Nation.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

Had Every Athenian Citizen Been A Socrates, Every Athenian Assembly Would Still Have Been A Mob.

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

The Purpose Of Separation Of Church And State Is To Keep Forever From These Shores The Ceaseless Strife That Has Soaked The Soil Of Europe With Blood For Centuries.

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

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.

Conscience Is The Most Sacred Of All Property.

Waiving The Rights Of Conscience, Not Included In The Surrender Implied By The Social State, & More Or Less Invaded By All Religious Establishments, The Simple Question To Be Decided, Is Whether A Support Of The Best & Purest Religion, The Christian Religion Itself Ought Not, So Far At Least As Pecuniary Means Are Involved, To Be Provided For By The Government, Rather Than Be Left To The Voluntary Provisions Of Those Who Profess It.

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.

Our Country, If It Does Justice To Itself, Will Be The Workshop Of Liberty To The Civilized World.

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.

The Government Of The United States Is A Definite Government, Confined To Specified Objects. It Is Not Like The State Governments, Whose Powers Are More General. Charity Is No Part Of The Legislative Duty Of The Government.

Resistance To Tyranny Is Service To God.

The Operations Of The Federal Government Will Be Most Extensive And Important In Times Of War And Danger; Those Of The State Governments, In Times Of Peace And Security.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

I Have Sometimes Thought There Could Be No Stronger Testimony In Favor Of Religion Or Against Temporal Enjoyments Even The Most Rational And Manly Than For Men Who Occupy The Most Honorable And Gainful Departments And Are Rising In Reputation And Wealth, Publicly To Declare Their Unsatisfactoriness By Becoming Fervent Advocates In The Cause Of Christ, & I Wish You May Give In Your Evidence In This Way. Such Instances Have Seldom Occurred, Therefore They Would Be More Striking And Would Be Instead Of A "cloud Of Witnesses.

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

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.

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.

Ambition Must Be Made To Counteract Ambition.

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

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.

By Rendering The Labor Of One, The Property Of The Other, They Cherish Pride, Luxury, And Vanity On One Side; On The Other, Vice And Servility, Or Hatred And Revolt.

In Europe, Charters Of Liberty Have Been Granted By Power. America Has Set The Example . . . Of Charters Of Power Granted By Liberty. This Revolution In The Practice Of The World, May, With An Honest Praise, Be Pronounced The Most Triumphant Epoch Of Its History, And The Most Consoling Presage Of Its Happiness.

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.

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.

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

The Political Truths Declared In That Solemn Manner Acquire By Degrees The Character Of Fundamental Maxims Of Free Government, And As They Become Incorporated With National Sentiment, Counteract The Impulses Of Interest And Passion.

The Definition Of The Right Of Suffrage Is Very Justly Regarded As A Fundamental Article Of Republican Government.

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

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

I Love The Summer.... The Warm Weather, Hangin Out With Friends, And Swimmin In The Warm Water..... But Most Importantly Grabin A Glove And A Ball And Playin Some Softball In The Heat.

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.

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.

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

[t]he Bill Exceeds The Rightful Authority To Which Governments Are Limited By The Essential Distinction Between Civil And Religious Functions, And Violates In Particular The Article Of The Constitution Of The United States Which Declares That Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting A Religious Establishment.... This Particular Church, Therefore, Would So Far Be A Religious Establishment By Law, A Legal Force And Sanction Being Given To Certain Articles In Its Constitution And Administration.

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.

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.

I Entirely Concur In The Propriety Of Resorting To The Sense In Which The Constitution Was Accepted And Ratified By The Nation. In That Sense Alone It Is The Legitimate Constitution. And If That Is Not The Guide In Expounding It, There May Be No Security.

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.

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

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

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.

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

How A Regulation So Unjust In Itself, So Foreign To The Authority Of Congress, And So Hurtful To The Sale Of Public Land, And Smelling So Strongly Of An Antiquated Bigotry, Could Have Received The Countenance Of A Committee Is Truly A Matter Of Astonishment.

Whilst The Last Members Were Signing It Doctr. Franklin Looking Towards The Presidents Chair, At The Back Of Which A Rising Sun Happened To Be Painted, Observed To A Few Members Near Him, That Painters Had Found It Difficult To Distinguish In Their Art A Rising From A Setting Sun.

Constitution Of The United States

The Smaller The Society, The Fewer Probably Will Be The Distinct Parties And Interests Composing It; The Fewer The Distinct Parties And Interests, The More Frequently Will A Majority Be Found Of The Same Party; . . . The More Easily Will They Concert And Execute Their Plans Of Oppression.

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

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.

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?

[i]t Is The Reason Alone, Of The Public, That Ought To Control And Regulate The Government.

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.

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

The 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

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

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.

Democracy Was The Right Of The People To Choose Their Own Tyrant.

In The Extent And Proper Structure Of The Union, Therefore, We Behold A Republican Remedy For The Disease Incident To Republican Government.

[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.

That Diabolical Hell Conceived Principle Of Persecution Rages Amoung Some And To Their Eternal Infamy The Clergy Can Furnish Their Quota Of Imps For Such Business.

Thus The Right Of Nullification Meant By Mr. Jefferson Is The Natural Right, Which All Admit To Be A Remedy Against Insupportable Oppression.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Experience Has Instructed Us That No Skill In The Science Of Government Has Yet Been Able To Discriminate And Define, With Sufficient Certainty, Its Three Great Provinces The Legislative, Executive, And Judiciary; Or Even The Privileges And Powers Of The Different Legislative Branches.

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.

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

An Oath-the Strongest Of Religious Ties.

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