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

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

Understanding the Quote: "it would have marked a want of foresight in the convention, which..."

This quote by James Madison reflects deeply on the theme of want. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Want, Conventions, Constitutional Convention, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how James Madison interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About James Madison

James Madison is celebrated for insightful thoughts on want and conventions. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Want
Conventions
Constitutional Convention
More From James Madison
Experience Assures Us, That The Efficacy Of The Provision Has Been Greatly Over-rated; And That Some More Adequate Defense Is Indispensably Necessary For The More Feeble, Against The More Powerful Members Of The Government.
Powerful
Government
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Thus The Right Of Nullification Meant By Mr. Jefferson Is The Natural Right, Which All Admit To Be A Remedy Against Insupportable Oppression.
Nullification
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Natural
No Man Can Be A Competent Legislator Who Does Not Add To An Upright Intention And A Sound Judgment A Certain Degree Of Knowledge Of The Subject On Which He Is To Legislate.
Men
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Place Three Individuals In A Situation Wherein The Interest Of Each Depends On The Voice Of The Others, And Give To Two Of Them An Interest Opposed To The Rights Of The Third. Will The Latter Be Secure? The Prudence Of Every Man Would Shun The Danger. The Rules & Forms Of Justice Suppose & Guard Against It. Will Two Thousand In A Like Situation Be Less Likely To Encroach On The Rights Of One Thousand?
Men
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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.
God
Wise
Powerful
Our Country, If It Does Justice To Itself, Will Be The Workshop Of Liberty To The Civilized World.
Country
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Justice
No Power Over The Freedom Of Religion [is] Delegated To The United States By The Constitution.
United States
Constitution
Freedom Of Religion
A Just Security To Property Is Not Afforded By That Government, Under Which Unequal Taxes Oppress One Species Of Property And Reward Another Species.
Government
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Rewards
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.
Real
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I Think It Absolutely Necessary That The President Should Have The Power Of Removing His Subordinates From Office; It Will Make Him, In A Peculiar Manner, Responsible For Their Conduct, And Subject Him To Impeachment Himself, If He Suffers Them To Perpetrate With Impunity High Crimes Or Misdemeanors Against The United States, Or Neglects To Superintend Their Conduct, So As To Check Their Excesses.
Thinking
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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.
Blessing
People
Evil
An Oath-the Strongest Of Religious Ties.
Religious
Ties
Oath
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.
Bible
God
Religious
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.
Country
Mean
Law
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.
Exercise
People
Giving
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?
War
Preparation
Establishment
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.
Education
Government
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Besides The Obscurity Arising From The Complexity Of Objects, And The Imperfection Of The Human Faculties, The Medium Through Which The Conceptions Of Men Are Conveyed To Each Other Adds A Fresh Embarrassment.
Men
Imperfection
Add
It Is Very Certain That [the Commerce Clause] Grew Out Of The Abuse Of The Power By The Importing States In Taxing The Non-importing, And Was Intended As A Negative And Preventive Provision Against Injustice Among The States Themselves, Rather Than As A Power To Be Used For The Positive Purposes Of The General Government.
Government
Abuse
Negative
If Men Were Angels, There Would Be No Need Of Government.
Angel
Men
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A Just Government Has No Need For The Clergy Or The Church.
Government
Church
Needs
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.
Men
Political
Liberty
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.
Party
Rights
Majority
The Executive Has No Right, In Any Case, To Decide The Question, Whether There Is Or Is Not Cause For Declaring War.
War
Liberty
Tyranny Founding Fathers
Our Opinions Agree As To The Evil, Moral, Political, And Economical, Of Slavery.
Evil
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Slavery
[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.
Religious
Law
Government
The Essence Of Government Is Power; And Power, Lodged As It Must Be In Human Hands, Will Ever Be Liable To Abuse.
Power
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Essence
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.
Inspirational
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Religious
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.
Rights
Law
People
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.
Men
Race
People
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.
Government
Degrees
Doe
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.
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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.
Independent
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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.
War
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I Own Myself The Friend To A Very Free System Of Commerce, And Hold It As A Truth, That Commercial Shackles Are Generally Unjust, Oppressive And Impolitic.
Unjust
Shackles
Commerce
Happily For America, Happily, We Trust, For The Whole Human Race, They Pursued A New And More Noble Course. They Accomplished A Revolution Which Has No Parallel In The Annals Of Human Society.
Freedom
4th Of July
America
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.
Religious
Religion
Liberty
In Framing A System, Which We Wish To Last For Ages, We Should Not Lose Sight Of The Changes Which Ages Will Produce.
Sight
Wish
Age
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.
Government
Foundation
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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.
Exercise
Men
Law
I Go By The Great Republican Principle, That The People Will Have The Virtue And Intelligence To Select Men Of Virtue And Wisdom [to The Offices Of Government].
Men
People
Office
Procrastination In The Beginning And Precipitation Towards The Conclusion Is The Characteristic Of Such Bodies.
Procrastination
Body
Characteristics
Happily For The States, They Enjoy The Utmost Freedom Of Religion. This Freedom Arises From That Multiplicity Of Sects Which Pervades America, And Which Is The Best And Only Security For Religious Liberty In Any Society.
Religious
America
Liberty
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.
Heart
People
Choices
Each State, In Ratifying The Constitution, Is Considered As A Sovereign Body, Independent Of All Others, And Only To Be Bound By Its Own Voluntary Act. In This Relation, Then, The New Constitution Will, If Established, Be A Federal, And Not A National Constitution.
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The Means Of Defence Against Foreign Danger Have Been Always The Instruments Of Tyranny At Home. Among The Romans It Was A Standing Maxim To Excite A War, Whenever A Revolt Was Apprehended. Throughout All Europe, The Armies Kept Up Under The Pretext Of Defending, Have Enslaved The People.
War
Home
Mean
[the Republican Party] Consists Of Those Who, Believing In The Doctrine That Mankind Are Capable Of Governing Themselves And Hating Hereditary Power As An Insult To The Reason And An Outrage To The Rights Of Men, Are Naturally Offended At Every Public Measure That Does Not Appeal To The Understanding And To The General Interest Of The Community.
Hate
Party
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A Well-instructed People Alone Can Be Permanently A Free People.
People
Liberty
Wells
[the Human Mind] Finds More Facility In Assenting To The Self-existence Of An Invisible Cause Possessing Infinite Power, Wisdom, And Goodness, Than In The Self-existence Of The Universe, Visibly Destitute Of These Attributes, And Which May Be The Effect Of Them.
Self
Mind
Religion
Cursed Be All That Learning That Is Contrary To The Cross Of Christ.
Bible
God
Education
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?
Law
Constitution
Should
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.
May
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Accepted
To Suppose That Any Form Of Government Will Secure Liberty Or Happiness Without Any Virtue In The People, Is A Chimerical Idea.
Government
Ideas
People
The Most Productive System Of Finance Will Always Be The Least Burdensome.
Taxation
Finance
Budgets
The Sober People Of America Are Weary Of The Fluctuating Policy Which Has Directed The Public Councils. They Have Seen With Regret And Indignation That Sudden Changes And Legislative Interferences, In Cases Affecting Personal Rights, Become Jobs In The Hands Of Enterprising And Influential Speculators, And Snares To The More-industrious And Less Informed Part Of The Community. They Have Seen, Too, That One Legislative Interference Is But The First Link Of A Long Chain Of Repetitions, Every Subsequent Interference Being Naturally Produced By The Effects Of The Preceding.
Trust
Jobs
Regret
A Victorious And Powerful Ally Is But Another Name For A Master.
Powerful
Government
Names
It Is The Mutual Duty Of All To Practice Christian Forbearance, Love, And Charity Toward Each Other.
Christian
Practice
Charity
The Alien Bill Proposed In The Senate Is A Monster That Must Forever Disgrace Its Parents.
Parent
Forever
Monsters
The President Is Responsible To The Public For The Conduct Of The Person He Has Nominated And Appointed.
President
Responsible
Persons
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.
Education
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Parent
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.
Government
Unions
Violence
No Error Is More Certain Than The One Proceeding From A Hasty And Superficial View Of The Subject.
Errors
Views
Superficial
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.
Passion
Interesting
Decision
The Advice Nearest To My Heart And Deepest In My Convictions Is That The Union Of The States Be Cherished And Perpetuated.
Heart
Advice
Unions
In The Compound Republic Of America, The Power Surrendered By The People Is First Divided Between Two Distinct Governments, And Then The Portion Allotted To Each Subdivided Among Distinct And Separate Governments. Hence A Double Security Arises To The Rights Of The People. The Different Governments Will Control Each Other, At The Same Time That Each Will Be Controlled By Itself.
Two
America
Rights
In A Society Under The Forms Of Which The Stronger Faction Can Readily Unite And Oppress The Weaker, Anarchy May As Truly Be Said To Reign As In A State Of Nature.
Stronger
Tyranny Of The Majority
May
The Latent Causes Of Faction Are Thus Sown In The Nature Of Man.
Men
Differences
Causes
Liberty And Order Will Never Be Perfectly Safe Until A Trespass On The Constitution Provisions For Either, Shall Be Felt With The Same Keenness That Resents And Invasion Of The Dearest Rights.
Rights
Order
Second Amendment
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.
Reflection
Government
Liberty
The Legislative Department Is Everywhere Extending The Sphere Of Its Activity And Drawing All Power Into Its Impetuous Vortex.
Drawing
Spheres
Vortex
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.
Party
Passion
Sacrifice
The American People Owe It To Themselves, And To The Cause Of Free Government, To Prove By Their Establishments For The Advancement And Diffusion Of Knowledge, That Their Political Institutionsare As Favorable To The Intellectual And Moral Improvement Of Man As They Are Conformable To His Individual And Social Rights.
Education
Men
Rights
The Best Service That Can Be Rendered To A Country, Next To That Of Giving It Liberty, Is In Diffusing The Mental Improvement Equally Essential To The Preservation, And The Enjoyment Of The Blessing.
Education
Country
Blessing
A Zeal For Different Opinions Concerning Religion, Concerning Government, And Many Other Points, As Well Of Speculation As Of Practice; An Attachment To Different Leaders Ambitiously Contending For Pre-eminence And Power; Or To Persons Of Other Descriptions Whose Fortunes Have Been Interesting To The Human Passions, Have, In Turn, 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.
Party
Passion
Practice
Is There No Virtue Among Us? If There Be Not, We Are In A Wretched Situation. No Theoretical Checks-no Form Of Government Can Render Us Secure. To Suppose That Any Form Of Government Will Secure Liberty Or Happiness Without Any Virtue In The People, Is A Chimerical Idea, If There Be Sufficient Virtue And Intelligence In The Community, It Will Be Exercised In The Selection Of These Men. So That We Do Not Depend On Their Virtue, Or Put Confidence In Our Rulers, But In The People Who Are To Choose Them.
Men
Ideas
People
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.
Religious
Ignorance
Liberty
[y]ou Will Understand The Game Behind The Curtain Too Well Not To Perceive The Old Trick Of Turning Every Contingency Into A Resource For Accumulating Force In The Government.
Government
Games
Resources
[a] Mere Demarcation On Parchment Of The Constitutional Limits Of The Several Departments Is Not A Sufficient Guard Against Those Encroachments Which Lead To A Tyrannical Concentration Of All The Powers Of Government In The Same Hands.
Government
Hands
Political
I Have No Doubt But That The Misery Of The Lower Classes Will Be Found To Abate Wherever The Government Assumes A Freer Aspect,& The Laws Favor A Subdivision Of Property.
Government
Law
Class
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.
Patriotic
Men
Law
But The Mild Voice Of Reason, Pleading The Cause Of An Enlarged And Permanent Interest, Is But Too Often Drowned, Before Public Bodies As Well As Individuals, By The Clamors Of An Impatient Avidity For Immediate And Immoderate Gain.
Voice
People
Body
To The Baptist Churches On Neal's Greek On Black Creek, North Carolina I Have Received, Fellow-citizens, Your Address, Approving My Objection To The Bill Containing A Grant Of Public Land To The Baptist Church At Salem Meeting House, Mississippi Territory. Having Always Regarded The Practical Distinction Between Religion And Civil Government As Essential To The Purity Of Both, And As Guaranteed By The Constitution Of The United States, I Could Not Have Otherwise Discharged My Duty On The Occasion Which Presented Itself
Government
Land
House
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.
Religion
Atheism
Connections
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.
Religious
Party
Men
I Believe There Are More Instances Of The Abridgement Of Freedom Of The People By Gradual And Silent Encroachments By Those In Power Than By Violent And Sudden Usurpations.
Freedom
Believe
Power
The Civil Rights Of None, Shall Be Abridged On Account Of Religious Belief Or Worship, Nor Shall Any National Religion Be Established, Nor Shall The Full And Equal Rights Of Conscience Be In Any Manner, Or On Any Pretext Infringed.
Religious
Rights
Liberty
The Power To Declare War, Including The Power Of Judging The Causes Of War, Is Fully And Exclusively Vested In The Legislature.
Peace
War
Judging
That This Liberty [of The Press] Is Often Carried To Excess; That It Has Sometimes Degenerated Into Licentiousness, Is Seen And Lamented, But The Remedy Has Not Yet Been Discovered. Perhaps It Is An Evil Inseparable From The Good With Which It Is Allied; Perhaps It Is A Shoot Which Cannot Be Stripped From The Stalk Without Wounding Vitally The Plant From Which It Is Torn. However Desirable Those Measures Might Be Which Might Correct Without Enslaving The Press, They Have Never Yet Been Devised In America.
America
Evil
Liberty
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.
Real
Home
Loss
The Diversity In The Faculties Of Men, From Which The Rights Of Property Originate, Is Not Less An Insuperable Obstacle To An Uniformity Of Interests. The Protection Of These Faculties Is The First Object Of Government.
Men
Rights
Diversity
Philosophy Is Common Sense With Big Words.
Philosophy
Medicine
Common Sense
Where A Majority Are United By A Common Sentiment, And Have An Opportunity, The Rights Of The Minor Party Become Insecure.
Party
Insecure
Opportunity
The Power Of Taxing People And Their Property Is Essential To The Very Existence Of Government.
Government
People
Essentials
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.
Diversity
Miracle
Degrees
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.
Men
Saving
Matter
Truth [comes Only] From Those ... Who Cultivate Their Reason.
Reason
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.
Circulation
No Confidence
Property
[i]t Is More Convenient To Prevent The Passage Of A Law, Than To Declare It Void After It Has Passed.
Law
Void
Legislature
The Strongest Passions And Most Dangerous Weaknesses Of The Human Breast; Ambition, Avarice, Vanity, The Honorable Or Venal Love Of Fame, Are All In Conspiracy Against The Desire And Duty Of Peace.
Peace
War
Passion
A Man Has A Property In His Opinions And The Free Communication Of Them.
Communication
Men
Liberty
Resolved, That The General Assembly Of Virginia, Doth Unequivocally Express A Firm Resolution To Maintain And Defend The Constitution Of The United States, And The Constitution Of This State, Against Every Aggression Either Foreign Or Domestic, And That They Will Support The Government Of The United States In All Measures Warranted By The Former.
Government
Virginia
Support
In The Extent And Proper Structure Of The Union, Therefore, We Behold A Republican Remedy For The Disease Incident To Republican Government.
Government
Unions
Disease
I Have Received Your Letter Of The 6th, With The Eloquent Discourse Delivered At The Consecration Of The Jewish Synagogue. Having Ever Regarded The Freedom Of Religious Opinions And Worship As Equally Belonging To Every Sect, And The Secure Enjoyment Of It As The Best Human Provision For Bringing All Either Into The Same Way Of Thinking, Or Into That Mutual Charity Which Is The Only Substitute, I Observe With Pleasure The View You Give Of The Spirit In Which Your Sect Partake Of The Blessings Offered By Our Government And Laws.
Religious
Thinking
Blessing
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.
Exercise
Law
Sacred
There Is No Maxim, In My Opinion, Which Is More Liable To Be Misapplied, And Which, Therefore, More Needs Elucidation, Than The Current One, That The Interest Of The Majority Is The Political Standard Of Right And Wrong.
Political
Liberty
Majority
Every Nation Whose Affairs Betray A Want Of Wisdom And Stability May Calculate On Every Loss Which Can Be Sustained From The More Systematic Policy Of Its Wiser Neighbors.
Loss
Liberty
May
Despotism Can Only Exist In Darkness, And There Are Too Many Lights Now In The Political Firmament To Permit It To Remain Anywhere, As It Has Heretofore Done, Almost Everywhere.
Light
Tyrants
Political
Every New And Successful Example Of A Perfect Separation Between Ecclesiastical And Civil Matters Is Of Importance.
Successful
Perfect
Presidential
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.
Party
Religion
Atheism
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.
Hands
Political
Trying
As Long As The Reason Of Man Continues Fallible, And He Is At Liberty To Exercise It, Different Opinions Will Be Formed.
Exercise
Men
Long
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.
Pride
Vanity
Two Sides
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.
Wisdom
Country
Hands
The Interest Of The Man Must Be Connected With The Constitutional Rights Of The Place. It May Be A Reflection On Human Nature, That Such Devices Should Be Necessary To Control The Abuses Of Government. But What Is Government Itself, But The Greatest Of All Reflections On Human Nature?
Reflection
Men
Rights
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.
Law
Operations
Mass
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.
Views
Giving
Special
The Most Common And Durable Source Of Faction Has Been The Various And Unequal Distribution Of Property.
Wisdom
Politics
Paper
The Invasion Of Private Rights Is Chiefly To Be Apprehended, Not From Acts Of Government Contrary To The Sense Of Its Constituents, But From Acts In Which The Government Is The Mere Instrument Of The Major Number Of The Constituents.
Rights
Government
Numbers
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.
Passion
Men
Numbers
A Pure Democracy Is A Society Consisting Of A Small Number Of Citizens, Who Assemble And Administer The Government In Person.
Patriotic
Small Numbers
Government
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.
Country
Heart
Mean
Each Generation Should Be Made To Bear The Burden Of Its Own Wars, Instead Of Carrying Them On, At The Expense Of Other Generations.
War
Liberty
Bears
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.
Practice
Abuse
Growth
Are Not The Daily Devotions Conducted By These Legal Ecclesiastics Already Degenerating Into A Scanty Attendance, And A Tiresome Formality?
Atheism
Attendance
Devotion
If We Advert To The Nature Of Republican Government, We Shall Find That The Censorial Power Is In The People Over The Government, And Not In The Government Over The People.
Freedom
Government
People
[n]o Religious Test Shall Ever Be Required As A Qualification To Any Office Or Public Trust Under The United States.
Religious
Atheist
Faith Religion
This Policy Of Supplying By Opposite And Rival Interests, The Defect Of Better Motives, Might Be Traced Through The Whole System Of Human Affairs, Both Private And Public.
Opposites
Rivals
Might
The Number Of Individuals Employed Under The Constitution Of The United States Will Be Much Smaller Than The Number Employed Under The Particular States.
Numbers
Constitution Of The United States
Individual
The Convention Thought It Wrong To Admit In The Constitution The Idea That There Could Be Property In Men.
Men
Ideas
Slavery
I Believe There Are More Instances Of The Abridgment Of The Freedom Of The People By Gradual And Silent Encroachments Of Those In Power, Than By Violent And Sudden Usurpations; But, On A Candid Examination Of History, We Shall Find That Turbulence, Violence, And Abuse Of Power, By The Majority Trampling On The Rights Of The Minority, Have Produced Factions And Commotions, Which, In Republics, Have, More Frequently Than Any Other Cause, Produced Despotism.
Believe
Rights
Government
[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.
Church
Liberty
Would Be
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.
Men
Class
Safety
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.
People
Freedom Of Speech
Common
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.
Country
Government
Law
The Genius Of Republican Liberty, Seems To Demand On One Side, Not Only That All Power Should Be Derived From The People; But, That Those Entrusted With It Should Be Kept In Dependence On The People, By A Short Duration Of Their Appointments; And, That, Even During This Short Period, The Trust Should Be Placed Not In A Few, But In A Number Of Hands.
Hands
Republican Government
Numbers
As The War Was Just In Its Origin And Necessary And Noble In Its Objects, We Can Reflect With A Proud Satisfaction That In Carrying It On No Principle Of Justice Or Honor, No Usage Of Civilized Nations, No Precept Of Courtesy Or Humanity, Have Been Infringed.
War
Justice
Humanity
In Contemplating The Pecuniary Resources Needed For The Removal Of Such A Number To So Great A Distance [freed Slaves To Africa], My Thoughts And Hopes Have Long Been Turned To The Rich Fund Presented In The Western Lands Of The Nation . . .
Distance
Land
Numbers
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?
Men
Animal
Vegetables
The Rights Of Persons, And The Rights Of Property, Are The Objects, For The Protection Of Which Government Was Instituted.
Rights
Government
Liberty
Congress Should Not Establish A Religion, And Enforce The Legal Observation Of It By Law, Nor Compel Men To Worship God In Any Manner Contrary To Their Conscience.
Men
Law
Atheism
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.
Party
Nullification
May
Another Of My Wishes Is To Depend As Little As Possible On The Labour Of Slaves.
Wish
Slavery
Littles
Wherever The Real Power In A Government Lies, There Is The Danger Of Oppression.
Real
Lying
Government Lies
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.
Rights
Government
Two
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.
Education
Regret
Interesting
Because We Hold It For 'a Fundamental And Undeniable Truth', That Religion Or 'the Duty Which We Owe To Our Creator' And The Manner Of Discharging It, Can Be Directed Only By Reason And Conviction, Not By Force Or Violence.
Religion
Religious Truth
Fundamentals
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.
Party
Opportunity
Numbers
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.
Spiritual
Religion
Matter
[restraints On The Press] In All Ages, Have Debauched Morals, Depressed Liberty, Shackled Religion, Supported Despotism, And Deluged The Scaffold With Blood.
Blood
Age
Liberty
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.
People
Constitution
Authority
I Cannot Undertake To Lay My Finger On That Article Of The Constitution Which Granted A Right To Congress Of Expending, On Objects Of Benevolence, The Money Of Their Constituents.
Government
Liberty
Politics
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.
War
Men
Temptation
The Primary Function Of Government Is To Protect The Minority Of The Opulent From The Majority Of The Poor.
Government
Majority
Minorities
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.
Opposites
Liberty
Assuming
A Standing Military Force, With An Overgrown Executive Will Not Long Be Safe Companions To Liberty.
Military
Long
Liberty
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.
Army
Patriotism
Liberty
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.
Evil
Done
Slavery
Democracies Have Been Found Incompatible With Personal Security Or The Rights Of Property; And In General Been As Short In Their Lives As They Have Been Violent In Their Death.
Freedom
Democracies Have
Rights
Those Who Proposed The Constitution Knew, And Those Who Ratified The Constitution Also Knew That This Is...a Limited Government Tied Down To Specified Powers....it Was Never Supposed Or Suspected That The Old Congress Could Give Away The Money Of The States To Encourage Agriculture Or For Any Other Purpose They Pleased.
Government
Agriculture
Giving
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. Theoretic Politicians, Who Have Patronized This Species Of Government, Have Erroneously Supposed That By Reducing Mankind To A Perfect Equality In Their Political Rights, They Would, At The Same Time, Be Perfectly Equalized And Assimilated In Their Possessions, Their Opinions, And Their Passions.
Passion
Government
Democracies Have
It Is The Duty Of Every Man To Render To The Creator Such Homage And Such Only As He Believes To Be Acceptable To Him. This Duty Is Precedent, Both In Order Of Time And In Degree Of Obligation, To The Claims Of Civil Society.
Religious
Believe
Men
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.
Political
Liberty
United States
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.
Government
Skills
Different
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.
Government
Constitution
Justified
It Is Too Early For Politicians To Presume On Our Forgetting That The Public Good, The Real Welfare Of The Great Body Of The People, Is The Supreme Object To Be Pursued; And That No Form Of Government Whatever Has Any Other Value Than As It May Be Fitted For The Attainment Of This Object.
Real
Government
People
What A Perversion Of The Normal Order Of Things! ... To Make Power The Primary And Central Object Of The Social System, And Liberty But Its Satellite.
Order
Liberty
Normal
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.
Character
Patriotic
Blessing
I Consider The Difference Between A System Founded On The Legislatures Only, And One Founded On The People, To Be The True Difference Between A League Or Treaty And A Constitution.
Differences
People
League
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.
Government
Evil
Perfect
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?
Purpose
Were Meant To Be
Particular
I Flatter Myself [we] Have In This Country Extinguished Forever The Ambitious Hope Of Making Laws For The Human Mind.
Country
Law
Forever
[i]t Is The Reason Alone, Of The Public, That Ought To Control And Regulate The Government.
Government
Reason
Ought
Who Are To Be The Objects Of Popular Choice? Every Citizen Whose Merit May Recommend Him To The Esteem And Confidence Of His Country.
Country
Choices
Citizens
The Rich Man, When Contributing To A Permanent Plan For The Education Of The Poor, Ought To Reflect That He Is Providing For That Of His Own Descendants; And The Poor Man Who Concurs In A Provision For Those Who Are Not Poor That At No Distant Day It May Be Enjoyed By Descendants From Himself. It Does Not Require A Long Life To Witness These Vicissitudes Of Fortune.
Education
Men
Long
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.
Government
People
Branches
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.
Party
Rights
Government
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.
Spirit
Legislature
States
Those Who Hold And Those Who Are Without Property Have Ever Formed Distinct Interests In Society.
Wisdom
Politics
Economy
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.
Religion
Atheism
May
[the Public Has] The Habit Now Of Invalidating Opinions Emanating From Me By Reference To My Age And Infirmities.
Age
Opinion
Habit
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.
Men
Color
Slavery
Attempts To Enforce By Legal Sanctions, Acts Obnoxious To So Great A Proportion Of Citizens, Tend To Enervate The Laws In General, And To Slacken The Bands Of Society. If It Be Difficult To Execute Any Law Which Is Not Generally Deemed Necessary Or Salutary, What Must Be The Case, Where It Is Deemed Invalid And Dangerous? And What May Be The Effect Of So Striking An Example Of Impotency In The Government, On Its General Authority?
Government
Law
May
If This Spirit Shall Ever Be So Far Debased, As To Tolerate A Law Not Obligatory On The Legislature, As Well As On The People, The People Will Be Prepared To Tolerate Any Thing But Liberty.
Freedom
Law
People
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.
Law
Toil
Different
If Man Is Not Fit To Govern Himself, How Can He Be Fit To Govern Someone Else?
Men
Fit
Ifs
Let Me Recommend The Best Medicine In The World: A Long Journey, At A Mild Season, Through A Pleasant Country, In Easy Stages.
Country
Journey
Medicine
The Smaller The Number And The More Permanent And Conspicuous The Station Of Men In Power, The Stronger Must Be The Interest Which They Will Individually Feel In Whatever Concerns The Government.
Men
Numbers
Stronger
I Have Appealed To Our Own Experience For The Truth Of What I Advance On This Subject [that The Legislative Power Is The Predominant Power]. Were It Necessary To Verify This Experience By Particular Proofs, They Might Be Multiplied Without End. I Might Find A Witness In Every Citizen Who Has Shared In, Or Been Attentive To, The Course Of Public Administrations.
Administration
Citizens
Might
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.
Order
Mind
Female
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.
Evil
Slavery
Merit
Whatever May Be The Judgement Pronounced On The Competency Of The Architects Of The Constitution, Or Whatever May Be The Destiny Of The Edifice Prepared By Them, I Feel It A Duty To Express My Profound And Solemn Conviction . . . That There Never Was An Assembly Of Men, Charged With A Great And Arduous Trust, Who Were More Pure In Their Motives, Or More Exclusively Or Anxiously Devoted To The Object Committed To Them.
Destiny
Men
Profound
Good Conscience Is The Most Valuable Asset Of All!
Assets
Valuable
Conscience
So Strong Is This Propensity Of Mankind To Fall Into Mutual Animosities, That Where No Substantial Occasion Presents Itself, The Most Frivolous And Fanciful Distinctions Have Been Sufficient To Kindle Their Unfriendly Passions And Excite Their Most Violent Conflicts. But The Most Common And Durable Source Of Factions Has Been The Various And Unequal Distribution Of Property.
Strong
Fall
Passion
[t]he Powers Granted By The Proposed Constitution Are The Gift Of The People, And May Be Resumed By Them When Perverted To Their Oppression, And Every Power Not Granted Thereby Remains With The People.
People
May
Constitution
But The Mere Circumstance Of Complexion Cannot Deprive Them Of The Character Of Men.
Character
Men
Human Nature
What Is Government Itself But The Greatest Of All Reflections On Human Nature?
Reflection
Government
Human Nature
Religious Bondage Shackles And Debilitates The Mind And Unfits It For Every Noble Enterprise, Every Expanded Prospect.
Religious
Atheist
Secular Society
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.
Country
Gun
Government
Any Reading Not Of A Vicious Species Must Be A Good Substitute For The Amusements Too Apt To Fill Up The Leisure Of The Labouring Classes.
Reading
Class
Amusement
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.
Freedom
Law
Rights
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