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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.

-James Madison

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No Man Is Allowed

James Madison

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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

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

It Is 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.

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.

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.

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

Republican Government

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.

Congress Shall Have Power . . . To Promote The Progress Of Science And Useful Arts, By Securing For Limited Time To Authors And Inventors The Exclusive Right To Their Respective Writings And Discoveries.

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

No Nation Could Preserve Its Freedom In The Midst Of Continual Warfare.

Democracies Have

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.

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.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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

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 - It Is Also A Truth, That If Industry And Labour Are Left To Take Their Own Course, They Will Generally Be Directed To Those Objects Which Are The Most Productive, And This In A More Certain And Direct Manner Than The Wisdom Of The Most Enlightened Legislature Could Point Out.

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

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

In 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.

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

Resistance To Tyranny Is Service To God.

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

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

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.

[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.

Charity Is No Part Of The Legislative Duty Of The Government.

Constitution Of The United States

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

I Consider It…as Subverting The Fundamental And Characteristic Principle Of The Government…and As Bidding Defiance To The Sense In Which The Constitution Is Known To Have Been Proposed, Advocated, And Adopted. If Congress Can Do Whatever In Their Discretion Can Be Done By Money, And Will Promote The General Welfare, The Government Is No Longer A Limited One.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

[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.

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

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.

Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance.

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

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

The Powers Delegated By The Proposed Constitution To The Federal Government Are Few And Defined. Those Which Are To Remain In The State Governments Are Numerous And Indefinite.

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.

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.

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 Liberal Appropriations Made By The Legislature Of Kentucky For A General System Of Education Cannot Be Too Much Applauded . . . . Learned Institutions Ought To Be The Favorite Objects With Every Free People. They Throw That Light Over The Public Mind Which Is The Best Security Against Crafty And Dangerous Encroachments On The Public Liberty . . . . What Spectacle Can Be More Edifying Or More Seasonable Than That Of Liberty And Learning, Each Leaning On The Other For Their Mutual And Surest Support?

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

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

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.

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

It Is A Universal Truth That The Loss Of Liberty At Home Is To Be Charged To The Provisions Against Danger, Real Or Pretended, From Abroad.

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

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

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

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.

What Is Government Itself But The Greatest Of All Reflections On Human Nature? If Men Were Angels, No Government Would Be Necessary. If Angels Were To Govern Men, Neither External Nor Internal Controls On Government Would Be Necessary.

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

War Is In Fact The True Nurse Of Executive Aggrandizement

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

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

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

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

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

The Circulation Of Confidence Is Better Than The Circulation Of Money.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

The House Of Representatives ... Can Make No Law, Which Will Not Have Its Full Operation On Themselves And Their Friends, As Well As The Great Mass Of Society. This Has Always Been Deemed One Of The Strongest Bonds By Which Human Policy Can Connect The Rulers And The People Together. It Creates Between Them That Communion Of Interest, And Sympathy Of Sentiments, Of Which Few Governments Have Furnished Examples; But Without Which Every Government Degenerates Into Tyranny.

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

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

We Are Teaching The World The Great Truth That Governments Do Better Without Kings & Nobles Than With Them.

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

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

If Justice, Good Faith, Honor, Gratitude And All The Other Qualities Which Enoble The Character Of A Nation, And Fulfill The Ends Of Government Be The Fruits Of Our Establishments, The Cause Of Liberty Will Acquire A Dignity And Lustre, Which It Has Never Yet Enjoyed, And An Example Will Be Set, Which Can Not But Have The Most Favorable Influence On The Rights Of Mankind.

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

The 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.

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

Popular Liberty Might Then Have Escaped The Indelible Reproach Of Decreeing To The Same Citizens, The Hemlock On One Day, And Statues On The Next.

Government Is Instituted To Protect Property Of Every Sort; As Well That Which Lies In The Various Rights Of Individuals, As That Which The Term Particularly Expresses. This Being The End Of Government, That Alone Is A Just Government Which Impartially Secures To Every Man Whatever Is His Own.

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

Is It Not The Glory Of The People Of America, That Whilst They Have Paid A Decent Regard To The Opinions Of Former Times And Other Nations, They Have Not Suffered A Blind Veneration For Antiquity, For Custom, Or For Names, To Overrule The Suggestions Of Their Own Good Sense, The Knowledge Of Their Own Situation, And The Lessons Of Their Own Experience? To This Manly Spirit, Posterity Will Be Indebted For The Possession, And The World For The Example Of The Numerous Innovations Displayed On The American Theatre, In Favor Of Private Rights And Public Happiness.

Commercial Shackles Are Generally Unjust, Oppressive, And Impolitic.

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

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.

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

The Federal Constitution Forms A Happy Combination In This Respect; The Great And Aggregate Interests Being Referred To The National, The Local And Particular, To The State Legislatures.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

It Is Possible That These May All Be Insufficient To Control The Caprice And Wickedness Of Man. But Are They Not All That Government Will Admit, And All That Human Prudence Can Devise?

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.

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

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

Secular Society

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.

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

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

It Is In Vain To Oppose Constitutional Barriers To The Impulse Of Self-preservation. It Is Worse Than In Vain; Because It Plants In The Constitution Itself Necessary Usurpations Of Power, Every Precedent Of Which Is A Germ Of Unnecessary And Multiplied Repetitions.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

To Consider The Degree Of Concord Which Ultimately Prevailed As Less Than A Miracle.

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?

Liberty Is To Faction What Air Is To Fire.

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.

Despotism Can Only Exist In Darkness.

[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.

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

The Powers Delegated By The Proposed Constitution To The Federal Government Are Few And Defined. Those Which Are To Remain In The State Governments Are Numerous And Indefinite. The Former Will Be Exercised Principally On External Objects, As War, Peace, Negotiation And Foreign Commerce. ... The Powers Reserved To The Several States Will Extend To All The Objects Which In The Ordinary Course Of Affairs, Concern The Lives And Liberties, And Properties Of The People, And The Internal Order, Improvement And Prosperity Of The State.

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

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.

Enlightened Statesmen Will Not Always Be At The Helm.

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

[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.

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

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

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

As Long As The Reason Of Man Continues Fallible, And He Is At Liberty To Exercise It, Different Opinions Will Be Formed.

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

It Is Of Great Importance In A Republic, Not Only To Guard The Society Against The Oppression Of Its Rulers; But To Guard One Part Of The Society Against The Injustice Of The Other Part.

Republican Government

Tyranny Of The Majority

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.

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.

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

Among The Features Peculiar To The Political System Of The United States, Is The Perfect Equality Of Rights Which It Secures To Every Religious Sect.

An Oath-the Strongest Of Religious Ties.

There Is An Evil Which Ought To Be Guarded Against In The Indefinite Accumulation Of Property From The Capacity Of Holding It In Perpetuity By...corporations. The Power Of All Corporations Ought To Be Limited In This Respect. The Growing Wealth Acquired By Them Never Fails To Be A Source Of Abuses.

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

Government Lies

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.

The Happy Union Of These States Is A Wonder; Their Constitution A Miracle; Their Example The Hope Of Liberty Throughout The World.

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

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.

Democracies Have Been Found Incompatible With Personal Security Or The Rights Of Property; And In General Been As Short In Their Lives As They Have Been Violent In Their Death.

Democracies Have

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.

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

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

The Passions, Therefore, Not The Reason, Of The Public Would Sit In Judgment. But It Is The Reason, Alone, Of The Public, That Ought To Control And Regulate The Government. The Passions Ought To Be Controlled And Regulated By The Government.

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

Tyranny Founding Fathers

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.

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

...to Support The Constitution, Which Is The Cement Of The Union, As Well In Its Limitations As In Its Authorities; To Respect The Rights And Authorities Reserved To The States And To The People As Equally Incorporated With And Essential To The Success Of The General System;... To Keep Within The Requisite Limits A Standing Military Force, Always Remembering That An Armed And Trained Militia Is The Firmest Bulwark Of Republics-that Without Standing Armies Their Liberty Can Never Be In Danger, Nor With Large Ones Safe.

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.

In The Latter Sense, A Man Has A Property In His Opinions And The Free Communication Of Them. He Has A Property Of Peculiar Value In His Religious Opinions, And In The Profession And Practice Dictated By Them. He Has An Equal Property In The Free Use Of His Faculties And Free Choice Of The Objects On Which To Employ Them. In A Word, As A Man Is Said To Have A Right To His Property, He May Be Equally Said To Have A Property In His Rights.

It Is A Principle Incorporated Into The Settled Policy Of America, That As Peace Is Better Than War, War Is Better Than Tribute.

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 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.

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.

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

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

The 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.

[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.

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

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

A Bad Cause Seldom Fails To Betray Itself.

Conscience Is The Most Sacred Of All Property.

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

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

Democracies Have

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.

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.

Armies, And Debts, And Taxes Are The Known Instruments For Bringing The Many Under The Domination Of The Few.

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.

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

[the 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.

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.

To Provide Employment For The Poor, And Support For The Indigent, Is Among The Primary, And, At The Same Time, Not Least Difficult Cares Of The Public Authority.

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

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

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.

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

Religious Truth

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.

I, Sir, Have Always Conceived - I Believe Those Who Proposed The Constitution Conceived,and It Is Still More Fully Known, And More Material To Observe, Those Who Ratified The Constitution Conceived, That This Is Not An Indefinite Government Deriving Its Powers From The General Terms Prefixed To The Specified Powers - But, A Limited Government Tied Down To The Specified Powers, Which Explain And Define The General Terms.

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

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