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The Real Wonder Is That So Many Difficulties Should Have Been Surmounted [in The Federal Convention], And Surmounted With A Unanimity Almost As Unprecedented As It Must Have Been Unexpected. It Is Impossible For Any Man Of Candor To Reflect On This Circumstance Without Partaking Of The Astonishment. It Is Impossible For The Man Of Pious Reflection Not To Perceive In It A Finger Of That Almighty Hand Which Has Been So Frequently And Signally Extended To Our Relief In The Critical Stages Of The Revolution.

-James Madison

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The Real Wonder Is

James Madison

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The Real Wonder Is That So Many Difficulties Should Have Been Surmounted [in The Federal Convention], And Surmounted With A Unanimity Almost As Unprecedented As It Must Have Been Unexpected. It Is Impossible For Any Man Of Candor To Reflect On This Circumstance Without Partaking Of The Astonishment. It Is Impossible For The Man Of Pious Reflection Not To Perceive In It A Finger Of That Almighty Hand Which Has Been So Frequently And Signally Extended To Our Relief In The Critical Stages Of The Revolution.

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

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.

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

Democracies Have

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

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

The Danger From Legislative Usurpations, Which, By Assembling All Power In The Same Hands, Must Lead To The Same Tyranny As Is Threatened By Executive Usurpations.

The Security Intended To The General Liberty Consists In The Frequent Election And In The Rotation Of The Members Of Congress.

This Policy Of Supplying By Opposite And Rival Interests, The Defect Of Better Motives, Might Be Traced Through The Whole System Of Human Affairs, Both Private And Public.

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

Besides The Advantage Of Being Armed, Which The Americans Possess Over The People Of Almost Every Other Nation, The Existence Of Subordinate Governments, To Which The People Are Attached, And By Which The Militia Officers Are Appointed, Forms A Barrier Against The Enterprises Of Ambition, More Insurmountable Than Any Which A Simple Government Of Any Form Can Admit Of.

We Are Teaching The World The Great Truth That Governments Do Better Without Kings & Nobles Than With Them. The Merit Will Be Doubled By The Other Lesson That Religion Flourishes In Greater Purity, Without Than With The Aid Of Government.

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.

In Republics, The Great Danger Is, That The Majority May Not Sufficiently Respect The Rights Of The Minority.

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.

Liberty Is To Faction, What Air Is To Fire, An Aliment Without Which It Instantly Expires. But It Could Not Be A Less Folly To Abolish Liberty, Which Is Essential To Political Life, Because It Nourishes Faction, Than It Would Be To Wish The Annihilation Of Air, Which Is Essential To Animal Life, Because It Imparts To Fire Its Destructive Agency.

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

If There Be A Principle That Ought Not To Be Questioned Within The United States, It Is That Every Man Has A Right To Abolish An Old Government And Establish A New One. This Principle Is Not Only Recorded In Every Public Archive, Written In Every American Heart, And Sealed With The Blood Of American Martyrs, But Is The Only Lawful Tenure By Which The United States Hold Their Existence As A Nation.

The Best Service That Can Be Rendered To A Country, Next To That Of Giving It Liberty, Is In Diffusing The Mental Improvement Equally Essential To The Preservation, And The Enjoyment Of The Blessing.

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 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.

The Civil Government, Though Bereft Of Every Thing Like An Associated Hierarchy, Possesses The Requisite Stability, And Performs Its Functions With Complete Success; Whilst The Number, The Industry, And The Morality Of The Priesthood, And The Devotion Of The People, Have Been Manifestly Increased By The Total Separation Of The Church From The State.

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

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

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

Power Is Of An Encroaching Nature.

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

In Time Of Actual War, Great Discretionary Powers Are Constantly Given To The Executive Magistrate. Constant Apprehension Of War, Has The Same Tendency To Render The Head Too Large For The Body. A Standing Military Force, With An Overgrown Executive Will Not Long Be Safe Companions To Liberty.

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

A Good Government Implies Two Things: First, Fidelity To The Object Of Government, Which Is The Happiness Of The People; Secondly, A Knowledge Of The Means By Which That Object Can Be Best Attained.

The Constitution Of The U.s. Forbids Everything Like An Establishment Of A National Religion.

Founding Fathers Religion

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

It Is Not Certain That With This Aid Alone [possession Of Arms], They Would Not Be Able To Shake Off Their Yokes. But Were The People To Posses The Additional Advantages Of Local Governments Chosen By Themselves, Who Could Collect The National Will, And Direct The National Force; And Of Officers Appointed Out Of The Militia, By These Governments And Attached Both To Them And To The Militia, It May Be Affirmed With The Greatest Assurance, That The Throne Of Every Tyranny In Europe Would Be Speedily Overturned, In Spite Of The Legions Which Surround It.

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

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.

[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.

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.

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

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 Accumulation Of All Powers, Legislative, Executive, And Judiciary, In The Same Hands, Whether Of One, A Few, Or Many, And Whether Hereditary, Selfappointed, Or Elective, May Justly Be Pronounced The Very Definition Of Tyranny.

Independent Judiciary

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

Secular Society

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

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.

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

No Man Can Be A Competent Legislator Who Does Not Add To An Upright Intention And A Sound Judgment A Certain Degree Of Knowledge Of The Subject On Which He Is To Legislate.

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.

Stability In Government Is Essential To National Character And To The Advantages Annexed To It, As Well As To That Repose And Confidence In The Minds Of The People, Which Are Among The Chief Blessings Of Civil Society.

Happily For The States, They Enjoy The Utmost Freedom Of Religion. This Freedom Arises From That Multiplicity Of Sects Which Pervades America, And Which Is The Best And Only Security For Religious Liberty In Any Society.

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

The Infant Periods Of Most Nations Are Buried In Silence Or Veiled In Fable; And The World Perhaps Has Lost But Little Which It Needs Regret. The Origin And Outset Of The American Republic Contain Lessons Of Which Posterity Ought Not To Be Deprived: And Happily There Never Was A Case In Which Every Interesting Incident Could Be So Accurately Preserved.

May It Not Be Asked Of Every Intelligent Friend To The Liberties Of His Country, Whether The Power Exercised In Such An Act As This Ought Not To Produce Great And Universal Alarm? Whether A Rigid Execution Of Such An Act, In Time Past, Would Not Have Repressed That Information And Communication Among The People Which Is Indispensable To The Just Exercise Of Their Electoral Rights? And Whether Such An Act, If Made Perpetual, And Enforced With Rigor, Would Not, In Time To Come, Either Destroy Our Free System Of Government, Or Prepare A Convulsion That Might Prove Equally Fatal To It?

The Proposed Constitution, Therefore, Even When Tested By The Rules Laid Down By Its Antagonists, Is, In Strictness, Neither A National Nor A Federal Constitution; But A Composition Of Both. In Its Foundation It Is Federal, Not National; In The Sources From Which The Ordinary Powers Of The Government Are Drawn, It Is Partly Federal, And Partly National; In The Operation Of These Powers, It Is National, Not Federal; In The Extent Of Them Again, It Is Federal, Not National; And Finally, In The Authoritative Mode Of Introducing Amendments, It Is Neither Wholly Federal, Nor Wholly National.

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

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

The Means Of Defence Against Foreign Danger Have Been Always The Instruments Of Tyranny At Home. Among The Romans It Was A Standing Maxim To Excite A War, Whenever A Revolt Was Apprehended. Throughout All Europe, The Armies Kept Up Under The Pretext Of Defending, Have Enslaved The People.

If Men Were Angels, No Government Would Be Necessary. If Angels Were To Govern Men, Neither External Nor Internal Controls On Government Would Be Necessary. In Framing A Government Which Is To Be Administered By Men Over Men, The Great Difficulty Lies In This: You Must First Enable The Government To Control The Governed; And In The Next Place Oblige It To Control Itself. A Dependence On The People Is, No Doubt, The Primary Control On The Government; But Experience Has Taught Mankind The Necessity Of Auxiliary Precautions.

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.

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.

Were It Possible So To Accelerate The Intercourse Between Every Part Of The Globe That All Its Inhabitants Could Be United Under The Superintending Authority Of An Ecumenical Council, How Great A Portion Of Human Evils Would Be Avoided.

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

Procrastination

Characteristics

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

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

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

A Zeal For Different Opinions Concerning Religion, Concerning Government, And Many Other Points, As Well Of Speculation As Of Practice; An Attachment To Different Leaders Ambitiously Contending For Pre-eminence And Power; Or To Persons Of Other Descriptions Whose Fortunes Have Been Interesting To The Human Passions, Have, In Turn, Divided Mankind Into Parties, Inflamed Them With Mutual Animosity, And Rendered Them Much More Disposed To Vex And Oppress Each Other Than To Co-operate For Their Common Good.

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

The Real Difference Of Interests, Lay Not Between Large And Small, But Between The Northern And Southern States. The Institution Of Slavery And Its Consequences Formed A Line Of Discrimination.

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

Let The Influx Of Money Be Ever So Great, If There Be No Confidence, Property Will Sink In Value... The Circulation Of Confidence Is Better Than The Circulation Of Money.

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 Belief In A God All Powerful Wise And Good, Is So Essential To The Moral Order Of The World And To The Happiness Of Man, That Arguments Which Enforce It Cannot Be Drawn From Too Many Sources Nor Adapted With Too Much Solicitude To The Different Characters And Capacities Impressed With It.

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

But Cool And Candid People Will At Once Reflect, That The Purest Of Human Blessings Must Have A Portion Of Alloy In Them, That The Choice Must Always Be Made, If Not Of The Lesser Evil, At Least Of The Greater, Not The Perfect Good; And That In Every Political Institution, A Power To Advance The Public Happiness, Involves A Discretion Which May Be Misapplied And Abused.

[the Human Mind] Finds More Facility In Assenting To The Self-existence Of An Invisible Cause Possessing Infinite Power, Wisdom, And Goodness, Than In The Self-existence Of The Universe, Visibly Destitute Of These Attributes, And Which May Be The Effect Of Them.

I Believe There Are More Instances Of The Abridgment Of The Freedom Of The People By Gradual And Silent Encroachments Of Those In Power, Than By Violent And Sudden Usurpations; But, On A Candid Examination Of History, We Shall Find That Turbulence, Violence, And Abuse Of Power, By The Majority Trampling On The Rights Of The Minority, Have Produced Factions And Commotions, Which, In Republics, Have, More Frequently Than Any Other Cause, Produced Despotism.

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.

That This Liberty [of The Press] Is Often Carried To Excess; That It Has Sometimes Degenerated Into Licentiousness, Is Seen And Lamented, But The Remedy Has Not Yet Been Discovered. Perhaps It Is An Evil Inseparable From The Good With Which It Is Allied; Perhaps It Is A Shoot Which Cannot Be Stripped From The Stalk Without Wounding Vitally The Plant From Which It Is Torn. However Desirable Those Measures Might Be Which Might Correct Without Enslaving The Press, They Have Never Yet Been Devised In America.

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

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

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.

[i]n The Next Place, To Show That Unless These Departments Be So Far Connected And Blended As To Give To Each A Constitutional Control Over The Others, The Degree Of Separation Which The Maxim Requires, As Essential To A Free Government, Can Never In Practice Be Duly Maintained.

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.

The Ultimate Authority, Wherever The Derivative May Be Found, Resides In The People Alone, And That It Will Not Depend Merely On The Comparative Ambition Or Address Of The Different Governments, Whether Either, Or Which Of Them, Will Be Able To Enlarge Its Sphere Of Jurisdiction At The Expense Of The Other.

Democracies Have

Union Of Religious Sentiments Begets A Surprising Confidence.

The Aim Of Every Political Constitution, Is Or Ought To Be First To Obtain For Rulers Men Who Possess Most Wisdom To Discern, And Most Virtue To Pursue, The Common Good Of Society; And In The Next Place, To Take The Most Effectual Precautions For Keeping Them Virtuous Whilst They Continue To Hold Their Public Trust.

Resistance To Tyranny Is Service To God.

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

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

A Bad Cause Seldom Fails To Betray Itself.

...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.

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

Inspirational Life

It Is The Duty Of Every Man To Render To The Creator Such Homage And Such Only As He Believes To Be Acceptable To Him. This Duty Is Precedent, Both In Order Of Time And In Degree Of Obligation, To The Claims Of Civil Society.

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.

I Consider The Difference Between A System Founded On The Legislatures Only, And One Founded On The People, To Be The True Difference Between A League Or Treaty And A Constitution.

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

[t]he Powers Granted By The Proposed Constitution Are The Gift Of The People, And May Be Resumed By Them When Perverted To Their Oppression, And Every Power Not Granted Thereby Remains With The People.

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

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

A Standing Army Is One Of The Greatest Mischief That Can Possibly Happen.

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.

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

Constitution Of The United States

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

You Give Me A Credit To Which I Have No Claim In Calling Me "the Writer Of The Constitution Of The United States." This Was Not, Like The Fabled Goddess Of Wisdom, The Offspring Of A Single Brain. It Ought To Be Regarded As The Work Of Many Heads And Many Hands.

The Number, The Industry, And The Morality Of The Priesthood, And The Devotion Of The People Have Been Manifestly Increased By The Total Separation Of The Church From The State.

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

The Number Of Individuals Employed Under The Constitution Of The United States Will Be Much Smaller Than The Number Employed Under The Particular States.

Constitution Of The United States

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

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 . . .

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

I Cannot Undertake To Lay My Finger On That Article Of The Constitution Which Granted A Right To Congress Of Expending, On Objects Of Benevolence, The Money Of Their Constituents.

The 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

No Power Over The Freedom Of Religion [is] Delegated To The United States By The Constitution.

Freedom Of Religion

We Have Seen That The Tendency Of Republican Governments Is To An Aggrandizement Of The Legislative At The Expense Of The Other Departments. The Appeals To The People, Therefore, Would Usually Be Made By The Executive And Judiciary Departments.

I Hope This Will Find You...enjoying The Commencement Of A New Year With Every Prospect That Can Make It A Happy One.

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

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

As Compacts, Charters Of Government Are Superior In Obligation To All Others, Because They Give Effect To All Others. As Truths, None Can Be More Sacred, Because They Are Bound, On The Conscience By The Religious Sanctions Of An Oath. As Metes And Bounds Of Government, They Transcend All Other Land-marks, Because Every Public Usurpation Is An Encroachment On The Private Right, Not Of One, But 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.

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

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

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.

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

There Is Not A More Important And Fundamental Principle In Legislation, Than That The Ways And Means Ought Always To Face The Public Engagements; That Our Appropriations Should Ever Go Hand In Hand With Our Promises. To Say That The United States Should Be Answerable For Twenty-five Millions Of Dollars Without Knowing Whether The Ways And Means Can Be Provided, And Without Knowing Whether Those Who Are To Succeed Us Will Think With Us On The Subject, Would Be Rash And Unjustifiable. Sir, In My Opinion, It Would Be Hazarding The Public Faith In A Manner Contrary To Every Idea Of Prudence.

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

Outlets For The Freed Blacks Are Alone Wanted For The Erasure Of The Blot From Our Republican Character.

[exchange] The Galling Burden Of Bachelorship For The Easy Yoke Of Matrimony.

The Internal Effects Of A Mutable Policy Are Still More Calamitous. It Poisons The Blessings Of Liberty Itself.

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?

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?

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.

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

Every Answer He [president John Adams] Gives To His Addressers Unmasks More And More His Principles And Views. His Language To The Young Men At Philadelphia Is The Most Abominable And Degrading That Could Fall From The Lips Of The First Magistrate Of An Independent People, And Particularly From A Revolutionary Patriot.

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

Whatever May Be The Judgement Pronounced On The Competency Of The Architects Of The Constitution, Or Whatever May Be The Destiny Of The Edifice Prepared By Them, I Feel It A Duty To Express My Profound And Solemn Conviction . . . That There Never Was An Assembly Of Men, Charged With A Great And Arduous Trust, Who Were More Pure In Their Motives, Or More Exclusively Or Anxiously Devoted To The Object Committed To Them.

Each State, In Ratifying The Constitution, Is Considered As A Sovereign Body, Independent Of All Others, And Only To Be Bound By Its Own Voluntary Act. In This Relation, Then, The New Constitution Will, If Established, Be A Federal, And Not A National Constitution.

Philosophy Is Common Sense With Big Words.

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

For The Same Reason That The Members Of The State Legislatures Will Be Unlikely To Attach Themselves Sufficiently To National Objects, The Members Of The Federal Legislature Will Be Likely To Attach Themselves Too Much To Local Objects.

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

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

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.

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

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

It Is Vain To Say That Enlightened Statesmen Will Always Be Able To Adjust Their Interests. Enlightened Men Will Not Always Be At The Helm.

The Executive Has No Right, In Any Case, To Decide The Question, Whether There Is Or Is Not Cause For Declaring War.

Tyranny Founding Fathers

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.

There Is One View Of The Subject Which Ought To Have Its Influence On Those Who Espouse Doctrines Which Strike At The Authoritative Origin And Efficacious Operation Of The Government Of The United States. The Government Of The U.s. Like All Governments Free In Their Principles, Rests On Compact; A Compact, Not Between The Government & The Parties Who Formed & Live Under It; But Among The Parties Themselves, And The Strongest Of Governments Are Those In Which The Compacts Were Most Fairly Formed And Most Faithfully Executed.

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

I Believe There Are More Instances Of The Abridgement Of Freedom Of The People By Gradual And Silent Encroachments By Those In Power Than By Violent And Sudden Usurpations.

If Our Nation Is Ever Taken Over, It Will Be Taken Over From Within.

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

Those Who Are To Conduct A War Cannot In The Nature Of Things, Be Proper Or Safe Judges, Whether A War Ought To Be Commenced, Continued, Or Concluded.

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

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.

Experience Assures Us, That The Efficacy Of The Provision Has Been Greatly Over-rated; And That Some More Adequate Defense Is Indispensably Necessary For The More Feeble, Against The More Powerful Members Of The Government.

Nothing Has Yet Been Offered To Invalidate The Doctrine That The Meaning Of The Constitution May As Well Be Ascertained By The Legislative As By The Judicial Authority.

The Inference To Which We Are Brought Is That The Causes Of Faction Cannot Be Removed And That Relief Is Only To Be Sought In The Means Of Controlling Its Effects.

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.

Who Are To Be The Electors Of The Federal Representatives? Not The Rich, More Than The Poor

Representatives

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

Another Advantage Accruing From This Ingredient In The Constitution Of A Senate, Is The Additional Impediment It Must Prove Against Improper Acts Of Legislation. No Law Or Resolution Can Now Be Passed Without The Concurrence First Of A Majority Of The People, And Then Of A Majority Of The States.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

A Well-instructed People Alone Can Be Permanently A Free People.

The Most Productive System Of Finance Will Always Be The Least Burdensome.

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

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.

Every Nation Whose Affairs Betray A Want Of Wisdom And Stability May Calculate On Every Loss Which Can Be Sustained From The More Systematic Policy Of Its Wiser Neighbors.

[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.

The Defect Of Power In The Existing Confederacy, To Regulate The Commerce Between Its Several Members Is In The Number Of Those Which Have Been Clearly Pointed Out By Experience . . . . A Very Material Object Of This Power Was The Relief Of The States Which Import And Export Through Other States From The Improper Contributions Levied On Them By The Latter.

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

The Constitution Of The United States Was Created By The People Of The United States Composing The Respective States, Who Alone Had The Right.

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

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

There Ought Always To Be A Constitutional Method Of Giving Efficacy To Constitutional Provisions. What For Instance Would Avail Restrictions On The Authority Of The State Legislatures, Without Some Constitutional Mode Of Enforcing The Observance Of Them? . . . This Power Must Either Be A Direct Negative On The State Laws, Or An Authority In The Federal Courts, To Over-rule Such As Might Be In Manifest Contravention Of The Articles Of Union.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Learned Institutions Ought To Be 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.

To The Baptist Churches On Neal's Greek On Black Creek, North Carolina I Have Received, Fellow-citizens, Your Address, Approving My Objection To The Bill Containing A Grant Of Public Land To The Baptist Church At Salem Meeting House, Mississippi Territory. Having Always Regarded The Practical Distinction Between Religion And Civil Government As Essential To The Purity Of Both, And As Guaranteed By The Constitution Of The United States, I Could Not Have Otherwise Discharged My Duty On The Occasion Which Presented Itself

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.

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

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?

America United With A Handful Of Troops, Or Without A Single Soldier, Exhibits A More Forbidding Posture To Foreign Ambition Than America Disunited, With A Hundred Thousand Veterans Ready For Combat.

War Is In Fact The True Nurse Of Executive Aggrandizement

A Sincere And Steadfast Co-operation In Promoting Such A Reconstruction Of Our Political System As Would Provide For The Permanent Liberty And Happiness Of The United States.

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

If We Are To Take For The Criterion Of Truth The Majority Of Suffrages, They Ought To Be Gotten From Those Philosophic And Patriotic Citizens Who Cultivate Their Reason.

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.

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Henry Cabot Lodge

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