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The Only Distinction Between Freedom And Slavery Consists In This: In The Former State A Man Is Governed By The Laws To Which He Has Given His Consent, Either In Person Or By His Representative; In The Latter, He Is Governed By The Will Of Another. In The One Case, His Life And Property Are His Own; In The Other, They Depend Upon The Pleasure Of His Master. It Is Easy To Discern Which Of These Two States Is Preferable.

-Alexander Hamilton

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The Only Distinction Between

Alexander Hamilton

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The Only Distinction Between Freedom And Slavery Consists In This: In The Former State A Man Is Governed By The Laws To Which He Has Given His Consent, Either In Person Or By His Representative; In The Latter, He Is Governed By The Will Of Another. In The One Case, His Life And Property Are His Own; In The Other, They Depend Upon The Pleasure Of His Master. It Is Easy To Discern Which Of These Two States Is Preferable.

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The Power Of Creating New Funds Upon New Objects Of Taxation, By Its Own Authority, Would Enable The National Government To Borrow As Far As Its Necessities Might Require.

As Riches Increase And Accumulate In Few Hands . . . The Tendency Of Things Will Be To Depart From The Republican Standard.

Self-preservation Is The First Principle Of Our Nature.

The Tendency Of A National Bank Is To Increase Public And Private Credit. The Former Gives Power To The State, For The Protection Of Its Rights And Interests: And The Latter Facilitates And Extends The Operations Of Commerce Among Individuals. Industry Is Increased, Commodities Are Multiplied, Agriculture And Manufacturers Flourish: And Herein Consists The True Wealth And Prosperity Of A State.

The Convention Probably Foresaw What It Has Been A Principal Aim Of These Papers To Inculcate That The Danger Which Most Threatens Our Political Welfare Is, That The State Governments Will Finally Sap The Foundations Of The Union.

Take Mankind In General, They Are Vicious-their Passions May Be Operated Upon.

Wherever Indeed A Right Of Property Is Infringed For The General Good, If The Nature Of The Case Admits Of Compensation, It Ought To Be Made; But If Compensation Be Impracticable, That Impracticability Ought To Be An Obstacle To A Clearly Essential Reform.

A Well Adjusted Person Is One Who Makes The Same Mistake Twice Without Getting Nervous.

The Citizens Of America Have Too Much Discernment To Be Argued Into Anarchy. And I Am Much Mistaken, If Experience Has Not Wrought A Deep And Solemn Conviction In The Public Mind, That Greater Energy Of Government Is Essential To The Welfare And Prosperity Of The Community

The Regular Distribution Of Power Into Distinct Departments; The Introduction Of Legislative Balances And Checks; The Institution Of Courts Composed Of Judges Holding Their Offices During Good Behavior; The Representation Of The People In The Legislature By Deputies Of Their Own Election . . . They Are Means, And Powerful Means, By Which The Excellences Of Republican Government May Be Retained And Its Imperfections Lessened Or Avoided.

Distribution Of Power

The Institution Of Delegated Power Implies That There Is A Portion Of Virtue And Honor Among Mankind Which May Be A Reasonable Foundation Of Confidence.

It Is The Press Which Has Corrupted Our Political Morals - And It Is To The Press We Must Look For The Means Of Our Political Regeneration.

These Powers Ought To Exist Without Limitation, Because It Is Impossible To Foresee Or To Define The Extent And Variety Of National Exigencies, And The Correspondent Extent And Variety Of The Means Which May Be Necessary To Satisfy Them.

Civil Liberty Is Only Natural Liberty, Modified And Secured By The Sanctions Of Civil Society.

Government Implies The Power Of Making Laws. It Is Essential To The Idea Of A Law, That It Be Attended With A Sanction; Or, In Other Words, A Penalty Or Punishment For Disobedience.

It Is The Advertiser Who Provides The Paper For The Subscriber. It Is Not To Be Disputed, That The Publisher Of A Newspaper In This Country, Without A Very Exhaustive Advertising Support, Would Receive Less Reward For His Labor Than The Humblest Mechanic.

While The Constitution Continues To Be Read, And Its Principles Known, The States, Must, By Every Rational Man, Be Considered As Essential Component Parts Of The Union; And Therefore The Idea Of Sacrificing The Former To The Latter Is Totally Inadmissible.

It Is In Vain To Hope To Guard Against Events Too Mighty For Human Foresight Or Precaution, And It Would Be Idle To Object To A Government Because It Could Not Perform Impossibilities.

The Love For Our Native Land Strengthens Our Individual And National Character.

Man Is Very Much A Creature Of Habit. A Thing That Rarely Strikes His Senses Will Generally Have But Little Influence Upon His Mind. A Government Continually At A Distance And Out Of Sight, Can Hardly Be Expected To Interest The Sensations Of The People. The Inference Is, That The Authority Of The Union, And The Affections Of The Citizens Towards It, Will Be Strengthened Rather Than Weakened By Its Extension To What Are Called Matters Of Internal Concern.

But Might Not His [the President's] Nomination Be Overruled? I Grant It Might, Yet This Could Only Be To Make Place For Another Nomination By Himself. The Person Ultimately Appointed Must Be Object Of His Preference, Though Perhaps Not In The First Degree. It Is Also Not Very Probable That His Nomination Would Often Be Overruled.

It Is Astonishing That So Simple A Truth Should Ever Have Had An Adversary; And It Is One Among A Multitude Of Proofs, How Apt A Spirit Of Ill-informed Jealousy, Or Of Too Great Abstraction And Refinement Is To Lead Men Astray From The Plainest Paths Of Reason And Conviction.

The Civil Jury Is A Valuable Safeguard To Liberty.

No Person That Has Enjoyed The Sweets Of Liberty Can Be Insensible Of Its Infinite Value, Or Can Reflect On Its Reverse Without Horror And Detestation

Has It Been Found That Bodies Of Men Act With More Rectitude Or Greater Disinterestedness Than Individuals? The Contrary Of This Has Been Inferred By All Accurate Observers Of The Conduct Of Mankind; And The Inference Is Founded Upon Obvious Reasons. Regard To Reputation Has A Less Active Influence, When The Infamy Of A Bad Action Is To Be Divided Among A Number Than When It Is To Fall Singly Upon One.

I Trust That The Proposed Constitution Afford A Genuine Specimen Of Representative Government And Republican Government; And That It Will Answer, In An Eminent Degree, All The Beneficial Purposes Of Society.

Happy Will It Be For Ourselves, And Most Honorable For Human Nature, If We Have Wisdom And Virtue Enough To Set So Glorious An Example To Mankind!

The Natural Cure For An Ill-administration, In A Popular Or Representative Constitution, Is A Change Of Men.

A National Debt, If It Is Not Excessive, Will Be To Us A National Blessing.

This Power Ought To Be Coextensive With All The Possible Combinations Of Such Circumstances; And Ought To Be Under The Direction Of The Same Councils Which Are Appointed To Preside Over The Common Defense.

[i]n Framing A Government For A Nation We Ought, In Those Provisions Which Are Designed To Be Permanent, To Calculate Not On Temporary, But On Permanent Causes Of Expence.

It Is Presumable That No Country Will Be Able To Borrow Of Foreigners Upon Better Terms Than The United States, Because None Can, Perhaps, Afford So Good Security.

A Habit Of Labor In The People Is As Essential To The Health And Rigor Of Their Minds And Bodies As It Is Conducive To The Welfare Of The State.

Foreign Influence Is Truly The Grecian Horse To A Republic. We Cannot Be Too Careful To Exclude Its Influence.

Men Are Rather Reasoning Than Reasonable Animals For The Most Part Governed By The Impulse Of Passion.

The Inquiry Constantly Is What Will Please, Not What Will Benefit The People. In Such A Government There Can Be Nothing But Temporary Expedient, Fickleness, And Folly.

But The Greatest Obstacle Of All To The Successful Prosecution Of A New Branch Of Industry In A Country, In Which It Was Before Unknown, Consists . . . In The Bounties, Premiums, And Other Aids Which Are Granted, In A Variety Of Cases, By The Nations, In Which The Establishments To Be Imitated Are Previously Introduced.

Good And Wise Men, In All Ages, Have Embraced A Very Dissimilar Theory. They Have Supposed That The Deity, From The Relations We Stand In To Himself And To Each Other, Has Constituted An Eternal And Immutable Law, Which Is Indispensably Obligatory Upon All Mankind, Prior To Any Human Institution Whatever. This Is What Is Called The Law Of Nature....upon This Law Depend The Natural Rights Of Mankind.

The Experience Of Treaties Being Broken With Impunity Provide An Afflicting Lesson To Mankind How Little Dependence Is To Be Placed On Treaties Which Have No Other Sanction Than The Obligations Of Good Faith; And Which Oppose General Considerations Of Peace And Justice To The Impulse Of Any Immediate Interest And Passion.

Measures Which Serve To Abridge The Free Competition Of Foreign Articles, Have A Tendency To Occasion An Enhancement Of Prices.

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.

Jurors Should Acquit, Even Against The Judge's Instruction . . . If Exercising Their Judgment With Discretion And Honesty They Have A Clear Conviction The Charge Of The Court Is Wrong.

Industry Is Increased, Commodities Are Multiplied, Agriculture And Manufacturers Flourish: And Herein Consists The True Wealth And Prosperity Of A State.

The Origin Of All Civil Government, Justly Established, Must Be A Voluntary Compact, Between The Rulers And The Ruled; And Must Be Liable To Such Limitations, As Are Necessary For The Security Of The Absolute Rights Of The Latter; For What Original Title Can Any Man Or Set Of Men Have, To Govern Others, Except Their Own Consent?

Of All The Cares Or Concerns Of Government, The Direction Of War Most Peculiarly Demands Those Qualities Which Distinguish The Exercise Of Power By A Single Hand. The Direction Of War Implies The Direction Of The Common Strength; And The Power Of Directing And Employing The Common Strength, Forms A Usual And Essential Part In The Definition Of The Executive Authority.

Of Those Men Who Have Overturned The Liberties Of Republics, The Greatest Number Have Begun Their Career By Paying An Obsequious Court To The People, Commencing Demagogues And Ending Tyrants.

Opinion, Whether Well Or Ill-founded, Is The Governing Principle Of Human Affairs

The Praise Of A Civilized World Is Justly Due To Christianity;—war, By The Influence Of The Humane Principles Of That Religion, Has Been Stripped Of Half Its Horrors. The French Renounce Christianity, And They Relapse Into Barbarism;—war Resumes The Same Hideous And Savage Form Which It Wore In The Ages Of Gothic And Roman Violence.

Hence, In A State Of Nature, No Man Had Any Moral Power To Deprive Another Of His Life, Limbs, Property, Or Liberty; Nor The Least Authority To Command Or Exact Obedience From Him, Except That Which Arose From The Ties Of Consanguinity.

Let Us Recollect That Peace Or War Will Not Always Be Left To Our Option; That However Moderate Or Unambitious We May Be, We Cannot Count Upon The Moderation, Or Hope To Extinguish The Ambition Of Others.

All Communities Divide Themselves Into The Few And The Many. The First Are The Rich And Well Born, The Other The Mass Of The People. The Voice Of The People Has Been Said To Be The Voice Of God; And However Generally This Maxim Has Been Quoted And Believed, It Is Not True In Fact. The People Are Turbulent And Changing; They Seldom Judge Or Determine Right. Give Therefore To The First Class A Distinct, Permanent Share In The Government.

If We Incline Too Much To Democracy, We Shall Soon Shoot Into A Monarchy.

Those Who Have A Tolerable Knowledge Of Human Nature Will Not Stand In Need Of Such Lights.

Nothing Could Be More Ill-judged Than That Intolerant Spirit Which Has, At All Times, Characterized Political Parties.

The Only Constitutional Exception To The Power Of Making Treaties Is, That It Shall Not Change The Constitution.… On Natural Principles, A Treaty, Which Should Manifestly Betray Or Sacrifice Primary Interests Of The State, Would Be Null.

In Disquisitions Of Every Kind There Are Certain Primary Truths, Or First Principles, Upon Which All Subsequent Reasoning Must Depend.

Men Are Rather Reasoning Than Reasonable Animals For The Most Part Governed By The Impulse Of Passion. This Is A Truth Well Understood By Our Adversaries Who Have Practised Upon It With No Small Benefit To Their Cause. For At The Very Moment They Are Eulogizing The Reason Of Men & Professing To Appeal Only To That Faculty, They Are Courting The Strongest & Most Active Passion Of The Human Heart - Vanity!

There Is Nothing Absurd Or Impracticable In The Idea Of A League Or Alliance Between Independent Nations For Certain Defined Purposes Precisely Stated In A Treaty Regulating All The Details Of Time, Place, Circumstance, And Quantity; Leaving Nothing To Future Discretion; And Depending For Its Execution On The Good Faith Of The Parties.

And As The Vicissitudes Of Nations Beget A Perpetual Tendency To The Accumulation Of Debt, There Ought To Be In Every Government A Perpetual, Anxious, And Unceasing Effort To Reduce That, Which At Any Times Exists, As Fast As Shall Be Practicable Consistently With Integrity And Good Faith.

If There Are Such Things As Political Axioms, The Propriety Of The Judicial Power Of A Government Being Co-extensive With Its Legislative, May Be Ranked Among The Number.

If We Are In Earnest About Giving The Union Energy And Duration We Must Abandon The Vain Project Of Legislating Upon The States In Their Collective Capacities.

The Rights Of Neutrality Will Only Be Respected When They Are Defended By An Adequate Power. A Nation, Despicable By Its Weakness, Forfeits Even The Privilege Of Being Neutral.

It May Be Laid Down As A General Rule, That Their Confidence In And Obedience To A Government, Will Be Commonly Proportioned To The Goodness Or Badness Of Its Administration . . . . Various Reasons Have Been Suggested In The Course Of These Papers, To Induce A Probability That The General Government Will Be Better Administered Than The Particular Governments.

Why Has Government Been Instituted At All? Because The Passions Of Man Will Not Conform To The Dictates Of Reason And Justice Without Constraint.

...that Standing Army Can Never Be Formidable (threatening) To The Liberties Of The People, While There Is A Large Body Of Citizens, Little If At All Inferior To Them In The Use Of Arms.

Safety From External Danger Is The Most Powerful Director Of National Conduct. Even The Ardent Love Of Liberty Will, After A Time, Give Way To Its Dictates. The Violent Destruction Of Life And Property Incident To War, The Continual Effort And Alarm Attendant On A State Of Continual Danger, Will Compel Nations The Most Attached To Liberty To Resort For Repose And Security To Institutions Which Have A Tendency To Destroy Their Civil And Political Rights. To Be More Safe, They At Length Become Willing To Run The Risk Of Being Less Free.

Necessity, Especially In Politics, Often Occasions False Hopes, False Reasonings, And A System Of Measures, Correspondingly Erroneous.

The Changes In The Human Condition Are Uncertain And Frequent. Many, On Whom Fortune Has Bestowed Her Favours, May Trace Their Family To A More Unprosperous Station; And Many Who Are Now In Obscurity, May Look Back Upon The Affluence And Exalted Rank Of Their Ancestors.

Ambition Without Principle Never Was Long Under The Guidance Of Good Sense.

The Passions Of A Revolution Are Apt To Hurry Even Good Men Into Excesses.

[t]he Present Constitution Is The Standard To Which We Are To Cling. Under Its Banners, Bona Fide Must We Combat Our Political Foes - Rejecting All Changes But Through The Channel Itself Provides For Amendments.

You Should Not Have Taken Advantage Of My Sensibility To Steal Into My Affections Without My Consent.

Were It Not That It Might Require Too Long A Discussion, It Would Not Be Difficult To Demonstrate That A Large And Well-organized Republic Can Scarcely Lose Its Liberty From Any Other Cause Than That Of Anarchy, To Which A Contempt Of The Laws Is The High-road.

Effective Resistance To Usurpers Is Possible Only Provided The Citizens Understand Their Rights And Are Disposed To Defend Them.

It Was Remarked Yesterday That A Numerous Representation Was Necessary To Obtain The Confidence Of The People. This Is Not Generally True. The Confidence Of The People Will Easily Be Gained By A Good Administration. This Is The True Touchstone.

Those Who Do Not Industrialize Become Hewers Of Wood And Hawkers Of Water

In The Usual Progress Of Things, The Necessities Of A Nation In Every Stage Of Its Existence Will Be Found At Least Equal To Its Resources.

The Standard Of Good Behavior For The Continuance In Office Of The Judicial Magistracy Is Certainly One Of The Most Valuable Of The Modern Improvements In The Practice Of Government.

The Inhabitants Of Territories, Often The Theatre Of War, Are Unavoidably Subject To Frequent Infringements On Their Rights, Which Serve To Weaken Their Sense Of Those Rights; And By Degrees, The People Are Brought To Consider The Soldiery Not Only As Their Protectors But As Their Superiors.

It Has Been Observed, [that For The Federal Government] To Coerce The States Is One Of The Maddest Projects That Was Ever Devised.

It Is Of The Nature Of War To Increase The Executive At The Expense Of The Legislative Authority.

The Idea Of Governing At All Times By The Simple Force Of Law (which We Have Been Told Is The Only Admissible Principle Of Republican Government) Has No Place But In The Reveries Of Those Political Doctors Whose Sagacity Disdains The Admonitions Of Experimental Instruction.

If Mankind Were To Resolve To Agree In No Institution Of Government, Until Every Part Of It Had Been Adjusted To The Most Exact Standard Of Perfection, Society Would Soon Become A General Scene Of Anarchy, And The World A Desert.

The Voice Of The People Has Been Said To Be The Voice Of God; And, However Generally This Maxim Has Been Quoted And Believed, It Is Not True To Fact. The People Are Turbulent And Changing, They Seldom Judge Or Determine Right.

The States Have Authority To Interpret The Constitution, Enforce It, And Protect The People From Violations Of It By The Federal Government In The First Place, There Is Not A Syllable In The Plan Under Consideration Which Directly Empowers The National Courts To Construe The Laws According To The Spirit Of The Constitution, Or Which Gives Them Any Greater Latitude In This Respect Than May Be Claimed By The Courts Of Every State.

Good Constitutions Are Formed Upon A Comparison Of The Liberty Of The Individual With The Strength Of Government: If The Tone Of Either Be Too High, The Other Will Be Weakened Too Much. It Is The Happiest Possible Mode Of Conciliating These Objects, To Institute One Branch Peculiarly Endowed With Sensibility, Another With Knowledge And Firmness. Through The Opposition And Mutual Control Of These Bodies, The Government Will Reach, In Its Regular Operations, The Perfect Balance Between Liberty And Power.

Even To Observe Neutrality You Must Have A Strong Government.

The President Is To Be Commander-in-chief Of The Army And Navy Of The United States. In This Respect His Authority Would Be Nominally The Same With That Of The King Of Great Britain, But In Substance Much Inferior To It. It Would Amount To Nothing More Than The Supreme Command And Direction Of The Land And Naval Forces, As First General And Admiral ... While That Of The British King Extends To The Declaring Of War And To The Raising And Regulating Of Fleets And Armies - All Which, By The Constitution Under Consideration, Would Appertain To The Legislature.

States, Like Individuals, Who Observe Their Engagements, Are Respected And Trusted: While The Reverse Is The Fate Of Those Who Pursue An Opposite Conduct.

Laws Are A Dead Letter Without Courts To Expound And Define Their True Meaning And Operation.

The True Principle Of A Republic Is That The People Should Choose Whom They Please To Govern Them. Representation Is Imperfect, In Proportion As The Current Of Popular Favor Is Checked. The Great Source Of Free Government, Popular Election, Should Be Perfectly Pure, And The Most Unbounded Liberty Allowed.

These Are Not Vague Inferences . . . But They Are Solid Conclusions Drawn From The Natural And Necessary Progress Of Human Affairs.

The Desire Of Reward Is One Of The Strongest Incentives Of Human Conduct; ... The Best Security For The Fidelity Of Mankind Is To Make Their Interest Coincide With Their Duty.

But Though A Funded Debt Is Not In The First Instance, An Absolute Increase Of Capital, Or An Augmentation Of Real Wealth; Yet By Serving As A New Power In The Operation Of Industry, It Has Within Certain Bounds A Tendency To Increase The Real Wealth Of A Community, In Like Manner As Money Borrowed By A Thrifty Farmer, To Be Laid Out In The Improvement Of His Farm May, In The End, Add To His Stock Of Real Riches.

Common Interest May Always Be Reckoned Upon As The Surest Bond Of Sympathy.

This Process Of Election Affords A Moral Certainty That The Office Of President Will Seldom Fall To The Lot Of Any Many Who Is Not In An Eminent Degree Endowed With The Requisite Qualifications.

The Same State Of The Passions Which Fits The Multitude, Who Have Not A Sufficient Stock Of Reason And Knowledge To Guide Them, For Opposition To Tyranny And Oppression, Very Naturally Leads Them To A Contempt And Disregard Of All Authority.

There Is One Transcendant Advantage Belonging To The Province Of The State Governments . . . -i Mean The Ordinary Administration Of Criminal And Civil Justice.

There Is Something So Far-fetched And So Extravagant In The Idea Of Danger To Liberty From The Militia That One Is At A Loss Whether To Treat It With Gravity Or With Raillery; Whether To Consider It As A Mere Trial Of Skill, Like The Paradoxes Of Rhetoricians; As A Disingenuous Artifice To Instil Prejudices At Any Price; Or As The Serious.

Civil Liberty Is Only Natural Liberty, Modified And Secured By The Sanctions Of Civil Society. It Is Not A Thing, In Its Own Nature, Precarious And Dependent On Human Will And Caprice; But It Is Conformable To The Constitution Of Man, As Well As Necessary To The Well-being Of Society.

The Republican Principle Demands That The Deliberate Sense Of The Community Should Govern The Conduct Of Those To Whom They Intrust The Management Of Their Affairs; But It Does Not Require An Unqualified Complaisance To Every Sudden Breeze Of Passion Or To Every Transient Impulse Which The People May Receive From The Arts Of Men, Who Flatter Their Prejudices To Betray Their Interests.

There Are Seasons In Every Country When Noise And Impudence Pass Current For Worth; And In Popular Commotions Especially, The Clamors Of Interested And Factious Men Are Often Mistaken For Patriotism.

Let Experience, The Least Fallible Guide Of Human Opinion, Be Appealed To For An Answer To These Inquiries.

Law Is Defined To Be A Rule Of Action; But How Can That Be A Rule, Which Is Little Known And Less Fixed?

To Cherish And Stimulate The Activity Of The Human Mind, By Multiplying The Objects Of Enterprise, Is Not Among The Least Considerable Of The Expedients, By Which The Wealth Of A Nation May Be Promoted. Even Things In Themselves Not Positively Advantageous, Sometimes Become So, By Their Tendency To Provoke Exertion. Every New Scene, Which Is Opened To The Busy Nature Of Man To Rouse And Exert Itself, Is The Addition Of A New Energy To The General Stock Of Effort.

Give Me The Steady, Uniform, Unshaken Security Of Constitutional Freedom. Give Me The Right To Be Tried By A Jury Of My Own Neighbors, And To Be Taxed By My Own Representatives Only. What Will Become Of The Law And Courts Of Justice Without This? The Shadow May Remain, But The Substance Will Be Gone. I Would Die To Preserve The Law Upon A Solid Foundation; But Take Away Liberty, And The Foundation Is Destroyed.

In Testimony Of Their Respect For The Patriot Of Incorruptible Integrity, The Soldier Of Approved Valour The Statesman Of Consummate Wisdom; Whose Talents And Virtues Will Be Admired By Grateful Posterity Long After This Marble Shall Have Mouldered Into Dust.

Upon This Law, Depend The Natural Rights Of Mankind, The Supreme Being Gave Existence To Man, Together With The Means Of Preserving And Beatifying That Existence. He Endowed Him With Rational Faculties, By The Help Of Which, To Discern And Pursue Such Things, As Were Consistent With His Duty And Interest, And Invested Him With An Inviolable Right To Personal Liberty, And Personal Safety.

If The Maintenance Of Public Credit, Then, Be Truly Important, The Next Enquiry Which Suggests Itself Is, By What Means It Is To Be Effected? The Ready Answer To Which Question Is, By Good Faith, By A Punctual Performance Of Contracts. States, Like Individuals, Who Observe Their Engagements, Are Respected And Trusted: While The Reverse Is The Fate Of Those Who Pursue An Opposite Conduct.

There Can Be No Profit In The Making Or Selling Of Things To Be Destroyed In War. Men May Think That They Have Such Profit, But In The End The Profit Will Turn Out To Be A Loss.

It Equally Proves, That Though Individual Oppression May Now And Then Proceed From The Courts Of Justice, The General Liberty Of The People Can Never Be Endangered From That Quarter; I Mean So Long As The Judiciary Remains Truly Distinct From Both The Legislature And The Executive. For I Agree, That "there Is No Liberty, If The Power Of Judging Be Not Separated From The Legislative And Executive Powers." And It Proves, In The Last Place, That As Liberty Can Have Nothing To Fear From The Judiciary Alone, But Would Have Every Thing To Fear From Its Union With Either Of The Other Departments.

The Principal Purposes To Be Answered By Union Are These The Common Defense Of The Members; The Preservation Of The Public Peace As Well Against Internal Convulsions As External Attacks; The Regulation Of Commerce With Other Nations And Between The States; The Superintendence Of Our Intercourse, Political And Commercial, With Foreign Countries.

As Riches Increase And Accumulate In Few Hands, As Luxury Prevails In Society, Virtue Will Be In A Greater Degree Considered As Only A Graceful Appendage Of Wealth, And The Tendency Of Things Will Be To Depart From The Republican Standard. This Is The Real Disposition Of Human Nature; It Is What Neither The Honorable Member Nor Myself Can Correct. It Is A Common Misfortunate That Awaits Our State Constitution, As Well As All Others.

The Idea Of Restraining The Legislative Authority, In The Means Of Providing For The National Defense, Is One Of Those Refinements Which Owe Their Origin To A Zeal For Liberty More Ardent Than Enlightened.

The Obscurity Is Much Oftener In The Passions And Prejudices Of The Reasoner Than In The Subject.

A Sacred Respect For The Constitutional Law Is The Vital Principle, The Sustaining Energy Of A Free Government.

The Multitude . . . Have Not A Sufficient Stock Of Reason And Knowledge To Guide Them. . . . It Is Not Safe To Trust To The Virtue Of Any People.

Establish That A Government May Decline A Provision For Its Debts, Though Able To Make It, And You Overthrow All Public Morality, You Unhinge All The Principles That Must Preserve The Limits Of Free Constitutions.

I Have Thought It My Duty To Exhibit Things As They Are, Not As They Ought To Be.

Nothing Is More Natural To Men In Office, Than To Look With Peculiar Deference Towards That Authority To Which They Owe Their Official Existence.

If It Were To Be Asked, What Is The Most Sacred Duty And The Greatest Source Of Our Security In A Republic? The Answer Would Be, An Inviolable Respect For The Constitution And Laws - The First Growing Out Of The Last . . . . A Sacred Respect For The Constitutional Law Is The Vital Principle, The Sustaining Energy Of A Free Government.

It Will Be Of Little Avail To The People, That The Laws Are Made By Men Of Their Own Choice, If The Laws Be So Voluminous That They Cannot Be Read, Or So Incoherent That They Cannot Be Understood; If They Be Repealed Or Revised Before They Are Promulgated, Or Undergo Such Incessant Changes That No Man, Who Knows What The Law Is To-day, Can Guess What It Will Be Tomorrow.

In The Main It Will Be Found That A Power Over A Man's Support [salary] Is A Power Over His Will.

It Is A General Principle Of Human Nature, That A Man Will Be Interested In Whatever He Possesses, In Proportion To The Firmness Or Precariousness Of The Tenure By Which He Holds It; Will Be Less Attached To What He Holds By A Momentary Or Uncertain Title, Than To What He Enjoys By A Durable Or Certain Title; And, Of Course, Will Be Willing To Risk More For The Sake Of The One, Than For The Sake Of The Other.

The Increasing Remoteness Of Consanguinity Is Everyday Diminishing The Force Of The Family Compact Between France And Spain. And Politicians Have Ever With Great Reason Considered The Ties Of Blood As Feeble And Precarious Links Of Political Connection.

There Was A Time When We Were Told . . . That A Sense Of Common Interest Would Preside Over The Conduct Of The Respective Members...this Language At The Present Day Would Appear As Wild As That Great Part Of What We Now Hear From The Same Quarter Will Be Thought, When We Shall Have Received Further Lessons From That Best Oracle Of Wisdom, Experience.

Wisdom Experience

A Nation Has A Right To Manage Its Own Concerns As It Thinks Fit.

Is It Not Time To Awake From The Deceitful Dream Of A Golden Age, And To Adopt As A Practical Maxim For The Direction Of Our Political Conduct, That We, As Well As The Other Inhabitants Of The Globe, Are Yet Remote From The Happy Empire Of Perfect Wisdom And Perfect Virtue?

Safety From External Danger Is The Most Powerful Director Of National Conduct. To Be More Safe, [nations] At Length Become Willing To Run The Risk Of Being Less Free.

Americans Rouse - Be Unanimous, Be Virtuous, Be Firm, Exert Your Courage, Trust In Heaven, And Nobly Defy The Enemies Both Of God And Man!

The Powers Contained In A Constitution...ought To Be Construed Liberally In Advancement Of The Public Good.

If The Federal Government Should Overpass The Just Bounds Of Its Authority And Make A Tyrannical Use Of Its Powers, The People, Whose Creature It Is, Must Appeal To The Standard They Have Formed, And Take Such Measures To Redress The Injury Done To The Constitution As The Exigency May Suggest And Prudence Justify.

What Plan For The Regulation Of The Militia May Be Pursued By The National Government Is Impossible To Be Foreseen...the Project Of Disciplining All The Militia Of The United States Is As Futile As It Would Be Injurious If It Were Capable Of Being Carried Into Execution... Little More Can Reasonably Be Aimed At With The Respect To The People At Large Than To Have Them Properly Armed And Equipped ; And In Order To See That This Be Not Neglected, It Will Be Necessary To Assemble Them Once Or Twice In The Course Of A Year.

There Are Men Who Could Neither Be Distressed Nor Won Into A Sacrifice Of Their Duty; But This Stern Virtue Is The Growth Of Few Soils: And In The Main It Will Be Found, That A Power Over A Man's Support Is A Power Over His Will.

Constitutions Of Civil Government Are Not To Be Framed Upon A Calculation Of Existing Exigencies, But Upon A Combination Of These With The Probable Exigencies Of Ages, According To The Natural And Tried Course Of Human Affairs. Nothing, Therefore, Can Be More Fallacious Than To Infer The Extent Of Any Power, Proper To Be Lodged In The National Government, From An Estimate Of Its Immediate Necessities.

The State Governments Possess Inherent Advantages, Which Will Ever Give Them An Influence And Ascendancy Over The National Government, And Will For Ever Preclude The Possibility Of Federal Encroachments. That Their Liberties, Indeed, Can Be Subverted By The Federal Head, Is Repugnant To Every Rule Of Political Calculation.

Divide Et Impera Must Be The Motto Of Every Nation That Either Hates Or Fears Us.

Perhaps Myself The First, At Some Expense Of Popularity, To Unfold The True Character Of Jefferson, It Is Too Late For Me To Become His Apologist. Nor Can I Have Any Disposition To Do It. I Admit That His Politics Are Tinctured With Fanaticism, That He Is Too Much In Earnest In His Democracy, That He Has Been A Mischievous Enemy To The Principle Measures Of Our Past Administration, That He Is Crafty & Persevering In His Objects, That He Is Not Scrupulous About The Means Of Success, Nor Very Mindful Of Truth, And That He Is A Contemptible Hypocrite.

To Watch The Progress Of Such Endeavors Is The Office Of A Free Press. To Give Us Early Alarm And Put Us On Our Guard Against Encroachments Of Power. This Then Is A Right Of Utmost Importance, One For Which, Instead Of Yielding It Up, We Ought Rather To Spill Our Blood.

I Have Carefully Examined The Evidences Of The Christian Religion, And If I Was Sitting As A Juror Upon Its Authenticity I Would Unhesitatingly Give My Verdict In Its Favor. I Can Prove Its Truth As Clearly As Any Proposition Ever Submitted To The Mind Of Man.

By Multiplying The Means Of Gratification, By Promoting The Introduction And Circulation Of The Precious Metals, Those Darling Objects Of Human Avarice And Enterprise, It Serves To Vivify And Invigorate The Channels Of Industry, And To Make Them Flow With Greater Activity And Copiousness. The Assiduous Merchant, The Laborious Husbandman, The Active Mechanic, And The Industrious Manufacturer,-all Orders Of Men, Look Forward With Eager Expectation And Growing Alacrity To This Pleasing Reward Of Their Toils.

In All General Questions Which Become The Subjects Of Discussion, There Are Always Some Truths Mixed With Falsehoods. I Confess, There Is Danger Where Men Are Capable Of Holding Two Offices. Take Mankind In General, They Are Vicious, Their Passions May Be Operated Upon. We Have Been Taught To Reprobate The Danger Of Influence In The British Government, Without Duly Reflecting How Far It Was Necessary To Support A Good Government. We Have Taken Up Many Ideas Upon Trust, And At Last, Pleased With Our Own Opinions, Establish Them As Undoubted Truths.

How Can You Trust People Who Are Poor And Own No Property? ... Inequality Of Property Will Exist As Long As Liberty Exists.

In A Government Framed For Durable Liberty, Not Less Regard Must Be Paid To Giving The Magistrate A Proper Degree Of Authority, To Make And Execute The Laws With Rigour, Than To Guarding Against Encroachments Upon The Rights Of The Community. As Too Much Power Leads To Despotism, Too Little Leads To Anarchy, And Both Eventually To The Ruin Of The People.

The Loss Of Liberty To A Generous Mind Is Worse Than Death.

If Duties Are Too High, They Lessen The Consumption; The Collection Is Eluded; And The Product To The Treasury Is Not So Great As When They Are Confined Within Proper And Moderate Bounds. This Forms A Complete Barrier Against Any Material Oppression Of The Citizens By Taxes Of This Class, And Is Itself A Natural Limitation Of The Power Of Imposing Them.

I Would Die To Preserve The Law Upon A Solid Foundation; But Take Away Liberty, And The Foundation Is Destroyed.

A Share In The Sovereignty Of The State, Which Is Exercised By The Citizens At Large, In Voting At Elections Is One Of The Most Important Rights Of The Subject, And In A Republic Ought To Stand Foremost In The Estimation Of The Law...that Portion Of The Sovereignty, To Which Each Individual Is Entitled, Can Never Be Too Highly Prized. It Is That For Which We Have Fought And Bled.

To Presume A Want Of Motives For Such Contests . . . Would Be To Forget That Men Are Ambitious, Vindictive, And Rapacious.

Such A Wife As I Want... Must Be Young, Handsome I Lay Most Stress Upon A Good Shape, Sensible A Little Learning Will Do, Well-bread, Chaste, And Tender. As To Religion, A Moderate Stock Will Satisfy Me. She Must Believe In God And Hate A Saint.

It Is A General Principle Of Human Nature, That A Man Will Be Interested In Whatever He Possesses, In Proportion To The Firmness Or Precariousness Of The Tenure By Which He Holds It.

I Confess I Am At A Loss To Discover What Temptation The Persons Entrusted With The Administration Of The General Government Could Ever Feel To Divest The States Of The Authorities Of That Description. The Regulation Of The Mere Domestic Police Of A State Appears To Me To Hold Out Slender Allurements To Ambition.

I Should Esteem It The Extreme Of Imprudence To Prolong The Precarious State Of Our National Affairs, And To Expose The Union To The Jeopardy Of Successive Experiments, In The Chimerical Pursuit Of A Perfect Plan. I Never Expect To See A Perfect Work From Imperfect Man. The Result Of The Deliberations Of All Collective Bodies Must Necessarily Be A Compound, As Well Of The Errors And Prejudices, As Of The Good Sense And Wisdom, Of The Individuals Of Whom They Are Composed.

The Local Interest Of A State Ought In Every Case To Give Way To The Interests Of The Union. For When A Sacrifice Of One Or The Other Is Necessary, The Former Becomes Only An Apparent, Partial Interest, And Should Yield, On The Principle That The Smaller Good Ought Never To Oppose The Greater Good.

After An Unequivocal Experience Of The Inefficacy Of The Subsisting Federal Government, You Are Called Upon To Deliberate On A New Constitution For The United States Of America.

There Is Perhaps, Nothing More Likely To Disturb The Tranquillity Of Nations, Than Their Being Bound To Mutual Contributions For Any Common Object That Does Not Yield An Equal And Coincident Benefit. For It Is An Observation As True, As It Is Trite, That There Is Nothing Men Differ So Readily About As The Payment Of Money.

Would There Not Be The Greatest Reason To Apprehend, That Error In The First Sentence Would Be The Parent Of Error In The Second Sentence? That The Strong Bias Of One Decision Would Be Apt To Overrule The Influence Of Any New Lights, Which Might Be Brought To Vary The Complexion Of Another Decision? Those, Who Know Any Thing Of Human Nature, Will Not Hesitate To Answer These Questions In The Affirmative.

Every Power Vested In A Government Is In Its Nature Sovereign, And Includes By Force Of The Term A Right To Employ All The Means Requisite . . . To The Attainment Of The Ends Of Such Power.

It Will Be Well To Advert To The Proportion Between The Objects That Will Require A Federal Provision In Respect To Revenue; And Those Which Will Require A State Provision. We Shall Discover That The Former Are Altogether Unlimited; And That The Latter Are Circumscribed Within Very Moderate Bounds.

Credit Supposes Specific And Permanent Funds For The Punctual Payment Of Interest, With A Moral Certainty Of A Final Redemption Of The Principal.

That This Gentleman [president John Adams] Ought Not To Be The Object Of The Federal Wish, Is, With Me, Reduced To Demonstration. His Administration Has Already Very Materially Disgraced And Sunk The Government. There Are Defects In His Character Which Must Inevitably Continue To Do This More And More. And If He Is Supported By The Federal Party, His Party Must In The Issue Fall With Him.

When Occasions Present Themselves, In Which The Interests Of The People Are At Variance With Their Inclinations, It Is The Duty Of The Persons Whom They Have Appointed To Be The Guardians Of Those Interests, To Withstand The Temporary Delusion, In Order To Give Them Time And Opportunity For More Cool And Sedate Reflection.

[t]hough Individual Oppression May Now And Then Proceed Fro The Courts Of Justice, The General Liberty Of The People Can Never Be Endangered From That Quarter . . .

In So Strong A Light, Nevertheless, Do They Appear To The Secretary, That, On Their Due Observance, At The Present Critical Juncture, Materially Depend, In His Judgment, The Individual And Aggregate Prosperity Of The Citizens Of The United States; Their Relief From The Embarrassments They Now Experience; Their Character As A People; The Cause Of Good Government.

People Sometimes Attribute My Success To My Genius; All The Genius I Know Anything About Is Hard Work.

Were Not The Disadvantages Of Slavery Too Obvious To Stand In Need Of It, I Might Enumerate And Describe The Tedious Train Of Calamities Inseparable From It. I Might Show That It Is Fatal To Religion And Morality; That It Tends To Debase The Mind, And Corrupt Its Noblest Springs Of Action. I Might Show That It Relaxes The Sinews Of Industry, Clips The Wings Of Commerce, And Introduces Misery And Indigence In Every Shape.

The Complete Independence Of The Courts Of Justice Is Peculiarly Essential In A Limited Constitution. By A Limited Constitution, I Understand One Which Contains Certain Specified Exceptions To The Legislative Authority. Limitations Of This Kind Can Be Preserved In Practice No Other Way Than Through The Medium Of Courts Of Justice, Whose Duty It Must Be To Declare All Acts Contrary To The Manifest Tenor Of The Constitution Void. Without This, All The Reservations Of Particular Rights Or Privileges Would Amount To Nothing.

The Laws Of Congress Are Restricted To A Certain Sphere, And When They Depart From This Sphere, They Are No Longer Supreme Or Binding.

The Honor Of A Nation Is Its Life. Deliberately To Abandon It Is To Commit An Act Of Political Suicide.

The Sacred Rights Of Mankind Are Not To Be Rummaged For Among Old Parchments Or Musty Records. They Are Written, As With A Sunbeam, In The Whole Volume Of Human Nature, By The Hand Of The Divinity Itself; And Can Never Be Erased.

Money Is, With Propriety, Considered As The Vital Principle Of The Body Politic; As That Which Sustains Its Life And Motion, And Enables It To Perform Its Most Essential Functions.

The [president] Has No Particle Of Spiritual Jurisdiction. . . .

The Superiority...enjoyed By Nations That Have...perfected A Branch Of Industry, Constitutes A...formidable Obstacle.

No Man In His Senses Can Hesitate In Choosing To Be Free, Rather Than A Slave.

American Revolution

To Answer The Purpose Of The Adversaries Of The Constitution, They Ought To Prove, Not Merely That Particular Provisions In It Are Not The Best, Which Might Have Been Imagined; But That The Plan Upon The Whole Is Bad And Pernicious.

[w]e Must Extend The Authority Of The Union To The Persons Of The Citizens - The Only Proper Objects Of Government.

War, Like Most Other Things, Is A Science To Be Acquired And Perfected By Diligence, By Perserverance, By Time, And By Practice.

And It Is Long Since I Have Learned To Hold Popular Opinion Of No Value.

Passive Commerce . . . Should Thus . . . [compel Us] To Content Ourselves With The First Price Of Our Commodities, And To See The Profits Of Our Trade Snatched From Us, To Enrich Our Enemies And Persecutors. That Unequalled Spirit Of Enterprise . . . An Inexhaustible Mine Of National Wealth, Would Be Stifled And Lost; And Poverty And Disgrace Would Overspread A Country, Which, With Wisdom, Might Make Herself The Admiration And Envy Of The World.

The Genius Of The People Will Ill Brook The Inquisitive And Peremptory Spirit Of Excise Laws.

When Human Laws Contradict Or Discountenance The Means, Which Are Necessary To Preserve The Essential Rights Of Any Society, They Defeat The Proper End Of All Laws, And So Become Null And Void.

There Is A Certain Enthusiasm In Liberty, That Makes Human Nature Rise Above Itself, In Acts Of Bravery And Heroism.

To Judge From The History Of Mankind, We Shall Be Compelled To Conclude, That The Fiery And Destructive Passions Of War, Reign In The Human Breast, With Much More Powerful Sway, Than The Mild And Beneficent Sentiments Of Peace.

The People Alone Have An Incontestable, Unalienable, And Indefeasible Right To Institute Government And To Reform, Alter, Or Totally Change The Same When Their Protection, Safety, Prosperity, And Happiness Require It.

. . . [the Judicial Branch] May Truly Be Said To Have Neither Force Nor Will, But Merely Judgment; And Must Ultimately Depend Upon The Aid Of The Executive Arm Even For The Efficacy Of Its Judgments.

And It Proves, In The Last Place, That Liberty Can Have Nothing To Fear From The Judiciary Alone, But Would Have Everything To Fear From Its Union With Either Of The Other Departments.

Executive Power

No Character, However Upright, Is A Match For Constantly Reiterated Attacks, However False.

Human Condition

Little More Can Reasonably Be Aimed At With Respect To The People At Large Than To Have Them Properly Armed.

Second Amendment

Experience Teaches, That Men Are Often So Much Governed By What They Are Accustomed To See And Practice, That The Simplest And Most Obvious Improvements . . . Are Adopted With Hesitation, Reluctance, And Slow Gradations.

The Means Ought To Be Proportioned To The End; The Persons From Whose Agency The Attainment Of Any End Is Expected Ought To Possess The Means By Which It Is To Be Attained.

Can Any Reasonable Man Be Well Disposed Toward A Government Which Makes War And Carnage The Only Means Of Supporting Itself?

The Liberty Of The Press Consists In The Right To Publish With Impunity Truth With Good Motives For Justifiable Ends, Though Reflecting On Government, Magistracy, Or Individuals.

In Politics, As In Religion, It Is Equally Absurd To Aim At Making Proselytes By Fire And Sword. Heresies In Either Can Rarely Be Cured By Persecution.

Separation Of Church And State

They Are Not Rules Prescribed By The Sovereign To The Subject, But Agreements Between Sovereign And Sovereign.

Constitutions Should Consist Only Of General Provisions; The Reason Is That They Must Necessarily Be Permanent, And That They Cannot Calculate For The Possible Change Of Things.

Constitution Of The United States

I Will Venture To Assert That No Combination Of Designing Men Under Heaven Will Be Capable Of Making A Government Unpopular Which Is In Its Principles A Wise And Good One, And Vigorous In Its Operations.

What Bitter Anguish Would Not The People Of Athens Have Often Escaped If Their Government Had Contained So Provident A Safeguard Against Tyranny Of Their Own Passions? Popular Liberty Might Then Have Escaped The Indelible Reproach Of Decreeing To The Same Citizens The Hemlock On One Day And Statutes The Next.

We Are Attempting, By This Constitution, To Abolish Factions, And To Unite All Parties For The General Welfare.

The Safety Of A Republic Depends Essentially On The Energy Of A Common National Sentiment; On A Uniformity Of Principles And Habits; On The Exemption Of The Citizens From Foreign Bias And Prejudice; And On That Love Of Country Which Will Almost Invariably Be Found To Be Closely Connected With Birth, Education And Family.

Bias And Prejudice

In All Very Numerous Assemblies, Of Whatever Character Composed, Passion Never Fails To Wrest The Sceptre From Reason. Had Every Athenian Citizen Been A Socrates, Every Athenian Assembly Would Still Have Been A Mob.

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