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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?

-James Madison

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The Liberal Appropriations Made

James Madison

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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?

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Who Does Not See That The Same Authority Which Can Establish Christianity, In Exclusion Of All Other Religions, May Establish With The Same Ease Any Particular Sect Of Christians, In Exclusion Of All Other Sects?

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

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

That Is Not A Just Government Where Arbitrary Restrictions, Exemptions, And Monopolies Deny To Part Of Its Citizens That Free Use Of Their Faculties, And Free Choice Of Their Occupations.

As The Legislative, Executive, And Judicial Departments Of The United States Are Co-ordinate, And Each Equally Bound To Support The Constitution, It Follows That Each Must In The Exercise Of Its Functions Be Guided By The Text Of The Constitution According To Its Own Interpretation Of It.

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

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

As The People Of The United States Enjoy The Great Merit Of Having Established A System Of Government On The Basis Of Human Rights, And Of Giving It A Form Without Example, Which, As They Believe, Unites The Greatest National Strength With The Best Security For Public Order And Individual Liberty, They Owe To Themselves, To Their Posterity And To The World, A Preservation Of The System In Its Purity, Its Symmetry, And Its Authenticity.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

The Express Authority Of The People Alone Could Give Validity To The Constitution.

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

The Regulation Of These Various And Interfering Interests Forms The Principal Task Of Modern Legislation And Involves The Spirit Of Party And Faction In The Necessary And Ordinary Operations Of Government.

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.

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.

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

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

Bills Of Attainder, Ex-post Facto Laws And Laws Impairing The Obligation Of Contracts Are Contrary To The First Principles Of The Social Compact, And To Every Principle Of Sound Legislation.

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

That The Foundation Of Our National Policy Should Be Laid In Private Morality. If Individuals Be Not Influenced By Moral Principles, It Is In Vain To Look For Public Virtue; It Is, Therefore, The Duty Of Legislators To Enforce, Both By Precept And Example, The Utility, As Well As The Necessity, Of A Strict Adherence To The Rules Of Distributive Justice.

Those Who Hold And Those Who Are Without Property Have Ever Formed Distinct Interests In Society.

[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.

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

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

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

The 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

When Men Exercise Their Reason Coolly And Freely, On A Variety Of Distinct Questions, They Inevitably Fall Into Different Opinions, On Some Of Them. When They Are Governed By A Common Passion, Their Opinions If They Are So To Be Called, Will Be The Same.

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

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

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.

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.

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

The Advice Nearest To My Heart And Deepest In My Convictions Is That The Union Of The States Be Cherished And Perpetuated. Let The Open Enemy To It Be Regarded As A Pandora With Her Box Opened, And The Disguised One As The Serpent Creeping With His Deadly Wiles Into Paradise.

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

Because Finally, 'the Equal Right Of Every Citizen To The Free Exercise Of His Religion According To The Dictates Of Conscience' Is Held By The Same Tenure With All His Other Rights. If We Recur To Its Origin, It Is Equally The Gift Of Nature; If We Weigh Its Importance, It Cannot Be Less Dear To Us; If We Consider The 'declaration Of Those Rights Which Pertain To The Good People Of Virginia, As The Basis And Foundation Of Government,' It Is Enumerated With Equal Solemnity, Or Rather Studied Emphasis.

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.

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

Enlightened Statesmen Will Not Always Be At The Helm.

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

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

It Is 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.

Conscience Is The Most Sacred Of All Property; Other Property Depending In Part On Positive Law, The Exercise Of That Being A Natural And Unalienable Right. To Guard A Man's House As His Castle, To Pay Public And Enforce Private Debts With The Most Exact Faith, Can Give No Title To Invade A Man's Conscience, Which Is More Sacred Than His Castle, Or To Withhold From It That Debt Of Protection For Which The Public Faith Is Pledged By The Very Nature And Original Conditions Of The Social Pact.

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

A Watchful Eye Must Be Kept On Ourselves Lest While We Are Building Ideal Monuments Of Renown And Bliss Here We Neglect To Have Our Names Enrolled In The Annals Of Heaven.

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

Democracies Have

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.

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

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

Secular Society

Should Ardent Spirits Be Everywhere Banished From The List Of Drinks, It Will Be A Revolution Not The Least Remarkable In This Revolutionary Age, And Our Country Will Have Its Full Share In That As In Other Merits.

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

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

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.

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

Democracies Have

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

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.

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

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

Good Conscience Is The Most Valuable Asset Of All!

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

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.

The Members Of The Legislative Department . . . Are Numerous. They Are Distributed And Dwell Among The People At Large. Their Connections Of Blood, Of Friendship, And Of Acquaintance Embrace A Great Proportion Of The Most Influential Part Of The Society . . . They Are More Immediately The Confidential Guardians Of Their Rights And Liberties.

[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.

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

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.

A Well Regulated Militia, Composed Of The Body Of The People, Trained In Arms, Is The Best Most Natural Defense Of A Free Country.

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

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

No Error Is More Certain Than The One Proceeding From A Hasty And Superficial View Of The Subject.

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

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

Justice Is The End Of Government. It Is The End Of Civil Society. It Ever Has Been And Ever Will Be Pursued Until It Be Obtained, Or Until Liberty Be Lost In The Pursuit.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

[i]t Is More Convenient To Prevent The Passage Of A Law, Than To Declare It Void After It Has Passed.

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

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

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].

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

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.

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.

... 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.

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

War Is In Fact The True Nurse Of Executive Aggrandizement

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

A Public Debt Is A Public Curse.

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

Inspirational Life

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

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

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

Rulers Who Wished To Subvert The Public Liberty, May Have Found An Established Clergy Convenient Auxiliaries. A Just Government Instituted To Secure & Perpetuate It Needs Them Not.

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.

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.

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

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

How Could A Readiness For War In Time Of Peace Be Safely Prohibited, Unless We Could Prohibit, In Like Manner, The Preparations And Establishments Of Every Hostile Nation? The Means Of Security Can Only Be Regulated By The Means And The Danger Of Attack. They Will, In Fact, Be Ever Determined By These Rules, And By No Others . . . . If One Nation Maintains Constantly A Disciplined Army, Ready For Service Of Ambition Or Revenge, It Obliges The Most Pacific Nations Who May Be Within The Reach Of Its Enterprises To Take Corresponding Precautions.

In All Great Changes Of Established Governments, Forms Ought To Give Way To Substance

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

A Distinction Of Property Results From That Very Protection Which A Free Government Gives To Unequal Faculties Of Acquiring It.

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

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 . . .

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.

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.

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

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

The Powers Of The Federal Government Are Enumerated; It Can Only Operate In Certain Cases; It Has Legislative Powers On Defined And Limited Objects, Beyond Which It Cannot Extend Its Jurisdiction.

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

Of All The Enemies To Public Liberty War Is, Perhaps, The Most To Be Dreaded, Because It Comprises And Develops The Germ Of Every Other. War Is The Parent Of Armies; From These Proceed Debts And Taxes; And Armies, Debts, And Taxes Are The Known Instruments For Bringing The Many Under The Domination Of The Few... No Nation Could Preserve Its Freedom In The Midst Of Continual Warfare.

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

Second Amendment

[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.

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.

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.

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

The People Shall Not Be Restrained From Peacefully Assembling And Consulting For Their Common Good, Nor From Applying To The Legislature By Petitions, Or Remonstrances For Redress Of Their Grievances.

Freedom Of Speech

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

The American People Are Too Well Schooled In The Duty And Practice Of Submitting To The Will Of The Majority To Permit Any Serious Uneasiness On That Account

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?

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

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

[regarding Legislative Assemblies,] The Number Ought At Most To Be Kept Within A Certain Limit, In Order To Avoid The Confusion And Intemperance Of A Multitude. In All Very Numerous Assemblies, Of Whatever Characters Composed, Passion Never Fails To Wrest The Scepter From Reason. Had Every Athenian Citizen Been A Socrates, Every Athenian Assembly Would Still Have Been A Mob.

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.

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.

Democracies Have

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.

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.

Precedents Once Established Are So Much Positive Power.

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

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

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.

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 Circulation Of Confidence Is Better Than The Circulation Of Money.

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.

Procrastination In The Beginning And Precipitation Towards The Conclusion Is The Characteristic Of Such Bodies.

Procrastination

Characteristics

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

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

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.

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

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

From The The Protection Of Different And Unequal Faculties Of Acquiring Property, The Possession Of Different Degrees And Kinds Of Property Immediately Results.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

And I Have No Doubt That Every New Example Will Succeed, As Every Past One Has Done, In Showing That Religion And Government Will Both Exist In Greater Purity, The Less They Are Mixed Together.

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

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.

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

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

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.

[r]efusing Or Not Refusing To Execute A Law To Stamp It With Its Final Character . . . Makes The Judiciary Department Paramount In Fact To The Legislature, Which Was Never Intended And Can Never Be Proper.

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

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

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

...freedom Arises From The Multiplicity Of Sects, Which Prevades America And Which Is The Best And Only Security For Religious Liberty In Any Society. For Where There Is Such A Variety Of Sects, There Cannot Be A Majority Of Any One Sect To Oppress And Persecute The Rest.

I Regret, As Much As Any Member, The Unavoidable Weight And Duration Of The Burdens To Be Imposed; Having Never Been A Proselyte To The Doctrine, That Public Debts Are Public Benefits. I Consider Them, On The Contrary, As Evils Which Ought To Be Removed As Fast As Honor And Justice Will Permit.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

The Fetters Imposed On Liberty At Home Have Ever Been Forged Out Of The Weapons Provided For Defense Against Real, Pretended, Or Imaginary Dangers From Abroad.

On The Distinctive Principles Of The Government ... Of The U. States, The Best Guides Are To Be Found In ... The Declaration Of Independence, As The Fundamental Act Of Union Of These States.

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.

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

Conscience Is The Most Sacred Of All Property.

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.

A Well-regulated Militia, Being Necessary To The Security Of A Free State, The Right Of The People To Keep And Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed.

Libertarian Party

Assault Weapons

Despotism Can Only Exist In Darkness.

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.

[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.

In Proportion To The Value Of This Revolution; In Proportion To The Importance Of Instruments, Every Word Of Which Decides A Question Between Power And Liberty; In Proportion To The Solemnity Of Acts, Proclaiming The Will Authenticated By The Seal Of The People, The Only Earthly Source Of Authority, Ought To Be The Vigilance With Which They Are Guarded By Every Citizen In Private Life, And The Circumspection With Which They Are Executed By Every Citizen In Public Trust.

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.

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Gerard Manley Hopkins

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