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We Are Now Forming A Republican Government. Real Liberty Is Never Found In Despotism Or The Extremes Of Democracy, But In Moderate Governments.
-Alexander Hamilton
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We Are Now Forming

Alexander Hamilton
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We Are Now Forming A Republican Government. Real Liberty Is Never Found In Despotism Or The Extremes Of Democracy, But In Moderate Governments.

Understanding the Quote: "we are now forming a republican government. real liberty is never found..."

This quote by Alexander Hamilton reflects deeply on the theme of freedom. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Freedom, Real, Government, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

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

Lessons From the Quote

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

About Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton is celebrated for insightful thoughts on freedom and real. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

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  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
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  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

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

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Topic
Freedom
Real
Government
More From Alexander Hamilton
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.
War
Simple
Doctors
Here Sir, The People Govern.
People
Representatives
Those Who Have A Tolerable Knowledge Of Human Nature Will Not Stand In Need Of Such Lights.
Light
Public Opinion
Needs
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.
People
Mind
Essentials
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.
Blood
Office
Giving
A Sacred Respect For The Constitutional Law Is The Vital Principle, The Sustaining Energy Of A Free Government.
Government
Law
Energy
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.
Government
Perfect
Balance
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.
Blood
Ties
Political
There Are Respectable Individuals, Who From A Just Aversion To An Accumulation Of Public Debt, Are Unwilling To Concede To It Any Kind Of Utility, Who Can Discern No Good To Alleviate The Ill With Which They Suppose It Pregnant; Who Cannot Be Persuaded That It Ought In Any Sense To Be Viewed As An Increase Of Capital Lest It Should Be Inferred, That The More Debt The More Capital, The Greater The Burthens The Greater The Blessings Of The Community.
Blessing
Community
Debt
Hard Words Are Very Rarely Useful. Real Firmness Is Good For Every Thing. Strut Is Good For Nothing.
Real
Firmness
Hard Words
The President Of The United States Would Be Liable To Be Impeached, Tried, And Upon Conviction Of Treason, Bribery, Or Other High Crimes And Misdemeanors, Removed From Office; And Would Afterwards Be Liable To Prosecution And Punishment In The Ordinary Course Of Law. The Person Of The King Of Great Britain Is Sacred And Inviolable: There Is No Constitutional Tribunal To Which He Is Amenable, No Punishment To Which He Can Be Subjected Without Involving The Crisis Of A National Revolution.
Kings
Law
Punishment
How Can You Trust People Who Are Poor And Own No Property? ... Inequality Of Property Will Exist As Long As Liberty Exists.
Long
People
Liberty
Nothing Can Be More Evident, Than That An Exclusive Power Of Regulating Elections For The National Government, In The Hands Of The State Legislatures, Would Leave The Existence Of The Union Entirely At Their Mercy . . . . It Is To Little Purpose To Say That A Neglect Or Omission Of This Kind [not Letting The Feds Have Elections], Would Be Unlikely To Take Place. The Constitutional Possibility Of The Thing, Without An Equivalent For The Risk, Is An Unanswerable Objection.
Hands
Omission
Government
The Honor Of A Nation Is Its Life. Deliberately To Abandon It Is To Commit An Act Of Political Suicide.
Suicide
Political
Honor
Measures Which Serve To Abridge The Free Competition Of Foreign Articles, Have A Tendency To Occasion An Enhancement Of Prices.
Competition
Enhancement
Tendencies
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.
Wise
Men
Rights
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.
War
Ambition
May
...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.
Army
Gun
Law
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.
Mean
Rights
Law
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.
Government
People
Inquiry
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.
Government
Liberty
Individual
. . . [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.
Branches
May
Arms
As Riches Increase And Accumulate In Few Hands . . . The Tendency Of Things Will Be To Depart From The Republican Standard.
Hands
Political
Riches
We Are Attempting, By This Constitution, To Abolish Factions, And To Unite All Parties For The General Welfare.
Party
Constitution
Welfare
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.
Taken
Passion
Men
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.
Strong
Light
Errors
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.
Real
Community
Add
As On The One Hand, The Necessity For Borrowing In Particular Emergencies Cannot Be Doubted, So On The Other, It Is Equally Evident That To Be Able To Borrow Upon Good Terms, It Is Essential That The Credit Of A Nation Should Be Well Established.
Hands
Essentials
Credit
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.
Men
Careers
Tyrants
It Is Far More Rational To Suppose That The Courts Were Designed To Be An Intermediate Body Between The People And The Legislature, In Order, Among Other Things, To Keep The Latter Within The Limits Assigned To Their Authority.
Order
People
Body
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.
Wisdom
Integrity
Tombstone
Those Who Do Not Industrialize Become Hewers Of Wood And Hawkers Of Water
Water
Woods
Hawkers
[imeachable Conduct Is] Misconduct By Public Men, Or, In Other Words, From The Abuse Or Violation Of Some Public Trust.
Men
Abuse
Violation
Now, Mark My Words. So Long As We Are A Young And Virtuous People, This Instument Will Bind Us Together In Mutual Interests, Mutual Welfare, And Mutual Happiness. But When We Become Old And Corrupt, It Will Bind No Longer.
Mutual Interest
Long
People
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.
Country
Political
Unions
Man Is A Reasoning Rather Than A Reasonable Animal.
Animal
Men
Humanity
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.
Running
Powerful
Safety
Men Are Rather Reasoning Than Reasonable Animals For The Most Part Governed By The Impulse Of Passion.
Passion
Animal
Men
Little More Can Reasonably Be Aimed At With Respect To The People At Large Than To Have Them Properly Armed.
People
Second Amendment
Littles
If The End Be Clearly Comprehended Within Any Of The Specified Powers, And If The Measure Have An Obvious Relation To That End, And Is Not Forbidden By Any Particular Provision Of The Constitution, It May Safely Be Deemed To Come Within The Compass Of The National Authority.
May
Constitution
Compass
Would They Not Fear That Citizens Not Less Tenacious Than Conscious Of Their Rights Would Flock From The Remotest Extremes Of Their Respective States To The Places Of Election, To Overthrow Their Tyrants, And To Substitute Men Who Would Be Disposed To Avenge The Violated Majesty Of The People?
Men
Rights
Tyrants
War, Like Most Other Things, Is A Science To Be Acquired And Perfected By Diligence, By Perserverance, By Time, And By Practice.
War
Practice
Perserverance
It Is Impossible Not To Bestow The Imputation Of Deliberate Imposture And Deception Upon The Gross Pretense Of A Similitude Between A King Of Great Britain And A Magistrate Of The Character Marked Out For That Of The President Of The United States. It Is Still More Impossible To Withhold That Imputation From The Rash And Barefaced Expedients Which Have Been Employed To Give Success To The Attempted Imposition.
Kings
Character
Giving
Manufacturing Establishments Not Only Occasion A Positive Augmentation Of The Produce And Revenue Of The Society . . . They Contribute Essentially To Rendering Them Greater Than They Could Possibly Be, Without Such Establishments. These Circumstances Are . . . Greater Scope For The Diversity Of Talents And Dispositions Which Discriminate Men From Each Other.
Men
Diversity
Talent
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.
Distance
Men
Sight
It Is A Singular Capriciousness Of The Human Mind, That After All The Admonitions We Have Had From Experience On This Head, There Should Still Be Found Men, Who Object To The New Constitution For Deviating From A Principle Which Has Been Found The Bane Of The Old.
Men
Mind
Principles
[t]he Constitution Ought To Be The Standard Of Construction For The Laws, And That Wherever There Is An Evident Opposition, The Laws Ought To Give Place To The Constitution. But This Doctrine Is Not Deducible From Any Circumstance Peculiar To The Plan Of Convention, But From The General Theory Of A Limited Constitution.
Law
Giving
Doctrine
Hitherto My Observations Have Only Aimed At A Vindication Of The Provision In Question, On The Ground Of Theoretic Propriety . . . . But There Remains To Be Mentioned A Positive Advantage . . . I Allude To The Circumstance Of Uniformity In The Time Of Elections For The House Of Representatives. It Is More Than Possible, That This Uniformity May Be Found By Experience To Be Of Great Importance To The Public Welfare; Both As A Security Against The Perpetuation Of The Same Spirit In The Body; And As A Cure For The Diseases Of Faction.
House
Public Opinion
Body
There Can Be No Limitation Of That Authority Which Is To Provide For The Defense And Protection Of The Community In Any Matter Essential To The Formation, Direction, Or Support Of The National Forces.
Support
Community
Essentials
It Is One Thing To Be Subordinate To The Laws, And Another [for The Executive] To Be Dependent On The Legislative Body. The First Comports With, The Last Violates, The Fundamental Principles Of Good Government; And, Whatever May Be The Forms Of The Constitution, Unites All Power In The Same Hands.
Government
Hands
Law
It's Not Tyranny We Desire; It's A Just, Limited, Federal Government.
Patriotic
Government
Desire
Learn To Think Continentally.
Education
Thinking
Political
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.
Government
People
Use
By A Steady Adherence To The Union We May Hope, Erelong, To Become The Arbiter Of Europe In America, And To Be Able To Incline The Balance Of European Competitions In This Part Of The World As Our Interest May Dictate.
Europe
America
Competition
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.
Respect
Government
Order
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.
Defense
Common
Combination
It Will Be Forgotten, On The One Hand, That Jealousy Is The Usual Concomitant Of Violent Love, And That The Noble Enthusiasm Of Liberty Is Too Apt To Be Infected With A Spirit Of Narrow And Illiberal Distrust. On The Other Hand, It Will Be Equally Forgotten, That The Vigour Of Government Is Essential To The Security Of Liberty.
Government
Hands
Liberty
Even To Observe Neutrality You Must Have A Strong Government.
Strong
Government
Neutrality
Responsibility, In Order To Be Reasonable, Must Be Limited To Objects Within The Power Of The Responsible Party, And In Order To Be Effectual, Must Relate To Operations Of That Power, Of Which A Ready And Proper Judgment Can Be Formed By The Constituents.
Party
Responsibility
Order
The Natural Cure For An Ill-administration, In A Popular Or Representative Constitution, Is A Change Of Men.
Men
Administration
Constitution
The Attributes Of Sovereignty Are Now Enjoyed By Every State In The Union.
Independence
Unions
States
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.
War
Exercise
Government
The Passions Of A Revolution Are Apt To Hurry Even Good Men Into Excesses.
Passion
Men
Good Man
A Well Adjusted Person Is One Who Makes The Same Mistake Twice Without Getting Nervous.
Confidence
Mistake
Women
The Superiority...enjoyed By Nations That Have...perfected A Branch Of Industry, Constitutes A...formidable Obstacle.
Branches
Obstacles
Formidable
The Variety Of More Minute Interests, Which Will Necessarily Fall Under The Superintendence Of The Local Administrations . . . Cannot Be Particularized Without Involving A Detail Too Tedious And Uninteresting To Compensate For The Instruction It Might Afford.
Fall
Might
Administration
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.
Government
Practice
Office
[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.
Political
Constitution
Amendments
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.
Country
Men
Noise
There Is No Position Which Depends On Clearer Principles Than That Every Act Of A Delegated Authority, Contrary To The Commission Under Which It Is Exercised, Is Void. No Legislative Act, Therefore, Contrary To The Constitution, Can Be Valid.
Principles
Void
Constitution
Men Often Oppose A Thing Merely Because They Have Had No Agency In Planning It, Or Because It May Have Been Planned By Those Whom They Dislike.
Men
Agency
Political
When You Assemble From Your Several Counties In The Legislature, Were Every Member To Be Guided Only By The Apparent Interest Of His County, Government Would Be Impracticable. There Must Be A Perpetual Accomodation And Sacrifice Of Local Advantage To General Expediency.
Sacrifice
Government
Federalism
[if You Understood The Natural Rights Of Mankind,] [y]ou Would Be Convinced That Natural Liberty Is A Gift Of The Beneficent Creator To The Whole Human Race, And That Civil Liberty Is Founded In That, And Cannot Be Wrested From Any People Without The Most Manifest Violation Of Justice.
Rights
Race
People
This [a State Militia System] Appears To Me The Only Substitute That Can Be Devised For A Standing Army, And The Best Possible Security Against It, If It Should Exist.
Army
Second Amendment
Right To Bear Arms
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.
Government
People
Safety
The Powers Contained In A Constitution...ought To Be Construed Liberally In Advancement Of The Public Good.
Advancement
Constitution
Ought
Law Is Defined To Be A Rule Of Action; But How Can That Be A Rule, Which Is Little Known And Less Fixed?
Law
Littles
Action
The Art Of Reading Is To Skip Judiciously.
Art
Reading
Skip
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.
Party
Independent
Ideas
The Laws Of Congress Are Restricted To A Certain Sphere, And When They Depart From This Sphere, They Are No Longer Supreme Or Binding.
Law
Spheres
Congress
There Can Be No Time, No State Of Things, In Which Credit Is Not Essential To A Nation.
Essentials
Credit
States
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.
Men
Yield
Doe
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.
Honor
Liberty
Foundation
[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 . . .
People
Justice
Liberty
They Are Not Rules Prescribed By The Sovereign To The Subject, But Agreements Between Sovereign And Sovereign.
Agreement
Sovereign
Foreign Policy
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.
Running
Powerful
War
If We Set Out With... A Scrupulous Regard To The Constitution, The Government Will Acquire A Spirit And A Tone Productive Of Permanent Blessings To The Community. If On The Contrary,... The Constitution Is Slighted, Or Explained Away, Upon Every Frivolous Pretext, The Future Of Government Will Be Feeble, Distracted And Arbitrary. The Rights Of The Subjects Will Be The Sport Of Every Party Vicissitude. There Will Be No Settled Rule Of Conduct, But Everything Will Fluctuate With The Alternate Prevalency Of Contending Factions.
Sports
Party
Blessing
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.
Simple
Men
Path
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.
Mean
Fate
Opposites
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.
Yesterday
People
Administration
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.
Law
Rights
Government
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.
Law
Long
Liberty
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.
Government
Numbers
Political
A National Debt If It Is Not Excessive Will Be To Us A National Blessing; It Will Be Powerfull Cement Of Our Union. It Will Also Create A Necessity For Keeping Up Taxation To A Degree Which Without Being Oppressive, Will Be A Spur To Industry.
Blessing
Unions
Spurs
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.
Men
Effort
Mind
[e]very Act Of A Delegated Authority, Contrary To The Tenor Of The Commission Under Which It Is Exercised, Is Void. No Legislative Act, Therefore, Contrary To The Constitution, Can Be Valid. To Deny This, Would Be To Affirm, That The Deputy Is Greater Than His Principal; That The Servant Is Above His Master; That The Representatives Of The People Are Superior To The People Themselves; That Men Acting By Virtue Of Powers, May Do Not Only What Their Powers Do Not Authorize, But What They Forbid.
Men
People
Acting
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.
Government
People
Liberty
The Interpretation Of The Laws Is The Proper And Peculiar Province Of The Courts. A Constitution Is, In Fact, And Must Be Regarded By The Judges, As Fundamental Law. It Therefore Belongs To Them To Ascertain Its Meaning, As Well As The Meaning Of Any Particular Act Proceeding From The Legislative Body. If There Should Happen To Be An Irreconcilable Variance Between The Two, That Which Has The Superior Obligation And Validity Ought, Of Course, To Be Preferred; Or, In Other Words, The Constitution Ought To Be Preferred To The Statute, The Intention Of The People To The Intention Of Their Agents.
Law
Two
People
The Love For Our Native Land Strengthens Our Individual And National Character.
Character
Land
Individual
Though A Wide Ocean Separates The United States From Europe, Yet There Are Various Considerations That Warn Us Against An Excess Of Confidence Or Security.
Ocean
Europe
United States
The Propriety Of A Law, In A Constitutional Light, Must Always Be Determined By The Nature Of The Powers Upon Which It Is Founded.
Law
Light
Determined
The Civil Jury Is A Valuable Safeguard To Liberty.
Liberty
Valuable
Jury
Effective Resistance To Usurpers Is Possible Only Provided The Citizens Understand Their Rights And Are Disposed To Defend Them.
Rights
Citizens
Usurpers
That Americans Are Entitled To Freedom Is Incontestable On Every Rational Principle. All Men Have One Common Original: They Participate In One Common Nature, And Consequently Have One Common Right. No Reason Can Be Assigned Why One Man Should Exercise Any Power Or Preeminence Over His Fellow-creatures More Than Another; Unless They Have Voluntarily Vested Him With It.
Exercise
Men
Liberty
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!
Passion
Heart
Animal
Nothing Could Be More Ill-judged Than That Intolerant Spirit Which Has, At All Times, Characterized Political Parties.
Party
Political
Spirit
The [president] Has No Particle Of Spiritual Jurisdiction. . . .
Spiritual
Church
President
It Is Of The Nature Of War To Increase The Executive At The Expense Of The Legislative Authority.
War
Authority
Increase
If It Be Said That The Legislative Body Are Themselves The Constitutional Judges Of Their Own Powers, And That The Construction They Put Upon Them Is Conclusive Upon The Other Departments, It May Be Answered, That This Cannot Be The Natural Presumption, Where It Is Not Be Collected From Any Particular Provisions In The Constitution.
Judging
May
Body
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.
Class
Citizens
Taxation
The Circumstances That Endanger The Safety Of Nations Are Infinite, And For This Reason No Constitutional Shackles Can Wisely Be Imposed On The Power To Which The Care Of It Is Committed.
Safety
Care
Infinite
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.
Voice
People
Judging
It Will Follow That That Government Ought To Be Clothed With All Powers Requisite To Complete Execution Of Its Trust.
Government
Execution
Ought
When A Government Betrays The People By Amassing Too Much Power And Becoming Tyrannical, The People Have No Choice But To Exercise Their Original Right Of Self-defense — To Fight The Government.
Fighting
Exercise
Government
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.
Rights
Practice
Justice
The Loss Of Liberty To A Generous Mind Is Worse Than Death.
Loss
Mind
Liberty
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.
Passion
Government
People
Allow A Government To Decline Paying Its Debts And You Overthrow All Public Morality-you Unhinge All The Principles That Preserve The Limits Of Free Constitutions. Nothing Can More Affect National Prosperity Than A Constant And Systematic Attention To Extinguish The Present Debt And To Avoid As Much As Possibly The Incurring Of Any New Debt.
Government
Principles
Attention
The Laws Of Certain States . . . Give An Ownership In The Service Of Negroes As Personal Property . . . . But Being Men, By The Laws Of God And Nature, They Were Capable Of Acquiring Liberty - And When The Captor In War . . . Thought Fit To Give Them Liberty, The Gift Was Not Only Valid, But Irrevocable.
War
Men
Law
What Is The Most Sacred Duty And The Greatest Source Of Our Security In A Republic? An Inviolable Respect For The Constitution And Laws.
Law
Republic
Sacred
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.
Education
Men
Practice
In The General Course Of Human Nature, A Power Over A Man's Subsistence Amounts To A Power Over His Will.
Power
Reality
Men
Divide Et Impera Must Be The Motto Of Every Nation That Either Hates Or Fears Us.
Hate
Motto
Divides
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.
War
Rights
People
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.
Country
Successful
Branches
That Experience Is The Parent Of Wisdom Is An Adage The Truth Of Which Is Recognized By The Wisest As Well As The Simplest Of Mankind.
Parent
Human Nature
Adages
The Constitution Of Human Nature" Teaches Us Not To Expect "that The Persons, Entrusted With The Administration Of The Affairs Of The Particular Members Of A Confederacy, Will At All Times Be Ready, With Perfect Good Humor, And An Unbiased Regard To The Public Weal, To Execute The Resolutions Of Decrees Of The General Authority." "this Tendency Is Not Difficult To Be Accounted For," Publius Argues, "it Has Its Origin In The Love Of Power.
Perfect
Unbiased
Administration
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.
Government
Class
People
Nothing Is More Natural To Men In Office, Than To Look With Peculiar Deference Towards That Authority To Which They Owe Their Official Existence.
Men
Office
Peculiar
The Awful Discretion, Which A Court Of Impeachments Must Necessarily Have, To Doom To Honor Or To Infamy The Most Confidential And The Most Distinguished Characters Of The Community, Forbids The Commitment Of The Trust To A Small Number Of Persons.
Character
Commitment
Small Numbers
[a] Power Equal To Every Possible Contingency Must Exist Somewhere In The Government . . .
Government
Equal
Contingency
Man Is Either Governed By His Own Laws - Freedom - Or The Laws Of Another - Slavery. Are You Willing To Become Slaves? Will You Give Up Your Freedom, Your Life And Your Property Without A Single Struggle? No Man Has A Right To Rule Over His Fellow Creatures.
Giving Up
Freedom
Struggle
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.
Powerful
Mean
Distribution Of Power
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.
Law
Government
Answers
The Deliberative Sense Of The Community Should Govern.
Community
Should
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.
Government
Giving
Energy
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.
Mean
May
Impossible
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.
Often Is
President
Degrees
The True Principle Of Government Is This - Make The System Compleat In Its Structure; Give A Perfect Proportion And Balance To Its Parts; And The Powers You Give It Will Never Affect Your Security.
Government
Giving
Perfect
The Best We Can Hope For Concerning The People At Large Is That They Be Properly Armed.
Gun
Rights
People
Whoever Attentively Considers The Different Departments Of Power Must Perceive, That, In A Government In Which They Are Separated From Each Other, The Judiciary, From The Nature Of Its Functions, Will Always Be The Least Dangerous To The Political Rights Of The Constitution; Because It Will Be Least In A Capacity To Annoy Or Injure Them.
Rights
Government
Political
The Law... Dictated By God Himself Is, Of Course, Superior In Obligation To Any Other. It Is Binding Over All The Globe, In All Countries, And At All Times. No Human Laws Are Of Any Validity If Contrary To This.
Country
Law
Obligation
The Vigour Of Government Is Essential To The Security Of Liberty. . . . A Dangerous Ambition More Often Lurks Behind The Specious Mask Of Zeal For The Rights Of The People, Than Under The Forbidding Appearance Of Zeal For The Firmness And Efficiency Of Government.
Ambition
Rights
Government
To Attempt To Enumerate The Complicated Variety Of Mischiefs In The Whole System Of The Social Economy, Which Proceed From A Neglect Of The Maxims That Uphold Public Credit, And Justify The Solicitude Manifested By The House On This Point, Would Be An Improper Intrusion On Their Time And Patience.
House
Would Be
Credit
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.
Reflection
Opportunity
Order
Let Experience, The Least Fallible Guide Of Human Opinion, Be Appealed To For An Answer To These Inquiries.
Public Opinion
Inquiry
Answers
Has It Not. . . Invariably Been Found That Momentary Passions, And Immediate Interests, Have A More Active And Imperious Control Over Human Conduct Than General Or Remote Considerations Of Policy, Utility And Justice?
Passion
Justice
Human Nature
Let Americans Disdain To Be The Instruments Of European Greatness! Let The Thirteen States, Bound Together In A Strict And Indissoluble Union, Concur In Erecting One Great American System, Superior To The Control Of All Transatlantic Force Or Influence, And Able To Dictate The Terms Of The Connection Between The Old And The New World!
Greatness
Together
Connections
Energy In The Executive Is A Leading Character In The Definition Of Good Government. It Is Essential To The Protection Of The Community Against Foreign Attacks; It Is Not Less Essential To The Steady Administration Of The Laws; To The Protection Of Property Against Those Irregular And High-handed Combinations Which Sometimes Interrupt The Ordinary Course Of Justice; To The Security Of Liberty Against The Enterprises And Assaults Of Ambition, Of Faction, And Of Anarchy.
Character
Ambition
Law
The Truth Is That The General Genius Of A Government Is All That Can Be Substantially Relied Upon For Permanent Effects. Particular Provisions, Though Not Altogether Useless, Have Far Less Virtue And Efficacy Than Are Commonly Ascribed To Them; And The Want Of Them Will Never Be With Men Of Sound Discernment A Decisive Objection To Any Plan Which Exhibits The Leading Characters Of A Good Government.
Character
Men
Sound
If The Exercise Of Power Of Internal Taxation By The Union Should Be Discovered On Experiment To Be Really Inconvenient, The Federal Government May Then Forbear The Use Of It . . .
Exercise
Government
Use
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.
Rights
Agriculture
Giving
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.
Fall
Men
Numbers
As The Duties Of Superintending The National Defense And Of Securing The Public Peace Against Foreign Or Domestic Violence Involve A Provision For Casualties And Dangers To Which No Possible Limits Can Be Assigned, The Power Of Making That Provision Ought To Know No Other Bounds Than The Exigencies Of The Nation And The Resources Of The Community.
Community
Domestic Violence
Defense
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.
Rights
Weakness
Neutrality
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.
Sacrifice
Men
Support
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. If This Spirit Shall Ever Be So Far Debased As To Tolerate A Law Not Obligatory On The Legislature As Well As On The People, The People Will Be Prepared To Tolerate Anything But Liberty.
Law
Class
America
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.
Government
Paper
Federalism
A Fondness For Power Is Implanted In Most Men, And It Is Natural To Abuse It When Acquired.
Men
Political
Abuse
[in The Event Of War, Americans Would] 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.
Running
War
Rights
The Instrument By Which It [government] Must Act Are Either The Authority Of The Laws Or Force. If The First Be Destroyed, The Last Must Be Substituted; And Where This Becomes The Ordinary Instrument Of Government There Is An End To Liberty!
Government
Law
Liberty
That Instability Is Inherent In The Nature Of Popular Governments, I Think Very Disputable … A Representative Democracy, Where The Right Of Election Is Well Secured And Regulated & The Exercise Of The Legislature, Executive, And Judiciary Authorities, Is Vested In Select Persons, Chosen Really And Not Nominally By The People, Will In My Opinion Be Most Likely To Be Happy, Regular And Durable.
Exercise
Thinking
Government
And It Is Long Since I Have Learned To Hold Popular Opinion Of No Value.
Long
Opinion
I Have Learned
It Is Just Observation That The People Commonly Intend The Public Good.
People
Good People
Observation
Necessity, Especially In Politics, Often Occasions False Hopes, False Reasonings, And A System Of Measures, Correspondingly Erroneous.
Human Nature
False Hope
Occasions
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?
Dream
Perfect
Political
This Balance Between The National And State Governments Ought To Be Dwelt On With Peculiar Attention, As It Is Of The Utmost Importance. It Forms A Double Security To The People. If One Encroaches On Their Rights They Will Find A Powerful Protection In The Other. Indeed, They Will Both Be Prevented From Overpassing Their Constitutional Limits By A Certain Rivalship, Which Will Ever Subsist Between Them.
Powerful
Rights
Government
The History Of Human Conduct Does Not Warrant That Exalted Opinion Of Human Virtue Which Would Make It Wise In A Nation To Commit Interests Of So Delicate And Momentous A Kind As Those Which Concern Its Intercourse With The Rest Of The World, To The Sole Disposal Of A Magistrate, Created And Circumstanced, As Would Be A President Of The United States.
Wise
War
President
People Sometimes Attribute My Success To My Genius; All The Genius I Know Anything About Is Hard Work.
Inspirational
Motivation
Hard Work
The Spirit Of Enterprise, Which Characterizes The Commercial Part Of America, Has Left No Occasion Of Displaying Itself Unimproved. It Is Not At All Probable That This Unbridled Spirit Would Pay Much Respect To Those Regulations Of Trade By Which Particular States Might Endeavor To Secure Exclusive Benefits To Their Own Citizens.
America
Citizens
Benefits
The Reasonableness Of The Agency Of The National Courts In Cases In Which The State Tribunals Cannot Be Supposed To Be Impartial, Speaks For Itself. No Man Ought Certainly To Be A Judge In His Own Cause, Or In Any Cause In Respect To Which He Has The Least Interest Or Bias.
Men
Agency
Judging
When Men, Engaged In Unjustifiable Pursuits, Are Aware That Obstructions May Come From A Quarter Which Bare Apprehension Of Opposition From Doing What They Would With Eagerness Rush Into If No Such External Impediments Were To Be Feared.
Men
May
Human Nature
A Struggle For Liberty Is In Itself Respectable And Glorious. . . . When Conducted With Magnanimity, Justice And Humanity, It Ought To Command The Admiration Of Every Friend To Human Nature. But If Sullied By Crimes And Extravagancies, It Loses Its Respectability.
Struggle
Justice
Humanity
As To Religion A Moderate Stock Will Satisfy Me. She Must Believe In God And Hate A Saint.
Hate
Believe
Saint
There Are Still To Be Found Visionary Or Designing Men, Who Stand Ready To Advocate The Paradox Of Perpetual Peace Between The States, Though Dismembered And Alienated From Each Other.... The Genius Of Republics, Say They, Is Pacific; The Spirit Of Commerce Has A Tendency To Soften The Manners Of Men, And To Extinguish Those Inflammable Humours Which Have So Often Kindled Into Wars. Commercial Republics, Like Ours, Will Never Be Disposed To Waste Themselves In Ruinous Contentions With Each Other. They Will Be Governed By Mutual Interest, And Will Cultivate A Spirit Of Mutual Amity And Concord.
War
Men
Mutual Interest
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
Public Opinion
Oracles
Foreign Influence Is Truly The Grecian Horse To A Republic. We Cannot Be Too Careful To Exclude Its Influence.
Horse
Republic
Influence
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.
Affluence
Favour
Obscurity
The Treaties Of The United States, To Have Any Force At All, Must Be Considered As Part Of The Law Of The Land.
Law
Land
United States
Our Countrymen Have All The Folly Of The Ass And All The Passiveness Of The Sheep.
Sheep
Revolution
Ass
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.
Government
Perfection
Desert
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.
Mean
Men
Rights
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.
Mean
Ideas
Liberty
In This Distribution Of Powers The Wisdom Of Our Constitution Is Manifested. It Is The Province And Duty Of The Executive To Preserve To The Nation The Blessings Of Peace. The Legislature Alone Can Interrupt Those Blessings, By Placing The Nation In A State Of War.
War
Blessing
Distribution Of Power
I Expect We Shall Be Told, That The Militia Of The Country Is Its Natural Bulwark, And Would Be At All Times Equal To The National Defence...the Facts, Which From Our Own Experience Forbid A Reliance Of This Kind, Are Too Recent To Permit Us To Be The Dupes Of Such A Suggestion.
Country
People
Suggestions
To Attach Full Confidence To An Institution Of This Nature, It Appears To Be An Essential Ingredient In Its Structure, That It Shall Be Under Private And Not A Public Direction-under The Guidance Of Individual Interest, Not Of Public Policy; Which, Would Be . . . Liable To Being Too Much Influenced By Public Necessity.
Federalism
Too Much
Ingredients
I Propose . . . . The Conformity Of The Proposed Constitution To The True Principles Of Republican Government.
Republican Government
Principles
Conformity
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.
Answers
Might
Purpose
To Presume A Want Of Motives For Such Contests . . . Would Be To Forget That Men Are Ambitious, Vindictive, And Rapacious.
Men
Ambitious
Would Be
If, Then, The Courts Of Justice Are To Be Considered As The Bulwarks Of A Limited Constitution Against Legislative Encroachments, This Consideration Will Afford A Strong Argument For The Permanent Tenure Of Judicial Offices, Since Nothing Will Contribute So Much As This To That Independent Spirit In The Judges Which Must Be Essential To The Faithful Performance Of So Arduous A Duty.
Strong
Independent
Justice
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.
Progress
Usual
Resources
... For It Is A Truth, Which The Experience Of All Ages Has Attested, That The People Are Commonly Most In Danger When The Means Of Insuring Their Rights Are In The Possession Of Those Of Whom They Entertain The Least Suspicion.
Mean
Gun
Rights
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.
Fall
Office
President
Unless Your Government Is Respectable, Foreigners Will Invade Your Rights; And To Maintain Tranquillity You Must Be Respectable; Even To Observe Neutrality You Must Have A Strong Government.
Strong
Rights
Government
The Achaeans Soon Experienced, As Often Happens, That A Victorious And Powerful Ally Is But Another Name For A Master.
Powerful
Names
Allies
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.
Passion
Broken
Justice
Common Interest May Always Be Reckoned Upon As The Surest Bond Of Sympathy.
May
Common
Human Nature
If The Representatives Of The People Betray Their Constituents, There Is Then No Recourse Left But In The Exertion Of That Original Right Of Self-defense Which Is Paramount To All Positive Forms Of Government.
Government
Self
People
The Prosecution [of Impeachments], Will Seldom Fail To Agitate The Passions Of The Whole Community, And To Divide It Into Parties More Or Less Friendly Or Inimical To The Accused. The Subjects Of Its Jurisdiction Are Those Offenses Which Proceed From The Misconduct Of Public Men, Or, In Other Words, From The Abuse Or Violation Of Some Public Trust, And They Relate Chiefly To Injuries Done Immediately To The Society Itself.
Party
Passion
Men
Experience Is The Oracle Of Truth; And Where Its Responses Are Unequivocal, They Ought To Be Conclusive And Sacred.
Oracles
Sacred
Unequivocal
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