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We Have The Self-evident Right To Regulate Our Trade According To Our Own Will And Our Own Interest . . . . This Right Can Be Denied To No Independent Nation.

-James Madison

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We Have The Self-evident

James Madison

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We Have The Self-evident Right To Regulate Our Trade According To Our Own Will And Our Own Interest . . . . This Right Can Be Denied To No Independent Nation.

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

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

Religious Truth

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

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

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

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.

A Pure Democracy, By Which I Mean A Society Consisting Of A Small Number Of Citizens, Who Assemble And Administer The Government In Person, Can Admit Of No Cure For The Mischiefs Of Faction. A Common Passion Or Interest Will, In Almost Every Case, Be Felt By A Majority Of The Whole; A Communication And Concert Result From The Form Of Government Itself; And There Is Nothing To Check The Inducements To Sacrifice The Weaker Party, Or An Obnoxious Individual. Hence It Is, That Such Democracies Have Ever Been Spectacles Of Turbulence And Contention; Have Ever Been Found Incompatible With Personal Security, Or The Rights Of Property; And Have In General Been As Short In Their Lives, As They Have Been Violent In Their Deaths.

If Men Were Angels, No Government Would Be Necessary.

The Settled Opinion Here Is That Religion Is Essentially Distinct From Civil Govt. And Exempt From Its Cognizance; That A Connection Between Them Is Injurious To Both.

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.

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 Eyes Of The World Being Thus On Our Country, It Is Put The More On Its Good Behavior, And Under The Greater Obligation Also, To Do Justice To The Tree Of Liberty By An Exhibition Of The Fine Fruits We Gather From It.

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

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

It Becomes All Therefore Who Are Friends Of A Government Based On Free Principles To Reflect, That By Denying The Possibility Of A System Partly Federal And Partly Consolidated, And Who Would Convert Ours Into One Either Wholly Federal Or Wholly Consolidated, In Neither Of Which Forms Have Individual Rights, Public Order, And External Safety, Been All Duly Maintained, They Aim A Deadly Blow At The Last Hope Of True Liberty On The Face Of The Earth.

What A Perversion Of The Normal Order Of Things! ... To Make Power The Primary And Central Object Of The Social System, And Liberty But Its Satellite.

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

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.

The Effect Of A Representative Democracy Is To Refine And Enlarge The Public Views, By Passing Them Through The Medium Of A Chosen Body Of Citizens, Whose Wisdom May Best Discern The True Interest Of The Nation.

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

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

Secular Society

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

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.

Those Who Proposed The Constitution Knew, And Those Who Ratified The Constitution Also Knew That This Is...a Limited Government Tied Down To Specified Powers....it Was Never Supposed Or Suspected That The Old Congress Could Give Away The Money Of The States To Encourage Agriculture Or For Any Other Purpose They Pleased.

An Alliance Or Coalition Between Government And Religion Cannot Be Too Carefully Guarded Against......every New And Successful Example Therefore Of A Perfect Separation Between Ecclesiastical And Civil Matters Is Of Importance........religion And Government Will Exist In Greater Purity, Without (rather) Than With The Aid Of Government.

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

The People Are The Only Legitimate Fountain Of Power, And It Is From Them That The Constitutional Charter, Under Which The Several Branches Of Government Hold Their Power, Is Derived.

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

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

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.

In All The Co-temporary Discussions And Comments, Which The Constitution Underwent, It Was Constantly Justified And Recommended On The Ground, That The Powers Not Given To The Government, Were Withheld From It.

It Is Due To Justice; Due To Humanity; Due To Truth; Due To The Sympathies Of Our Nature; In Fine, To Our Character As A People, Both Abroad And At Home, That They Should Be Considered, As Much As Possible, In The Light Of Human Beings, And Not As Mere Property. As Such, They Are Acted On By Our Laws, And Have An Interest In Our Laws. They May Be Considered As Making A Part, Though A Degraded Part, Of The Families To Which They Belong.

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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

[the Proposed Establishment] Will Have A . . . Tendency To Banish Our Citizens. . . . To Superadd A Fresh Motive To Emigration By Revoking The Liberty Which They Now Enjoy, Would Be The Same Species Of Folly Which Has Dishonoured And Depopulated Flourishing Kingdoms.

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

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.

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 Useful Alterations Will Be Suggested By Experience, Could Not But Be Foreseen . . . . It Moreover Equally Enables The General And State Governments To Originate The Amendment Of Errors As They May Be Pointed Out By The Experience On One Side Or On The Other.

Whilst We Assert For Ourselves A Freedom To Embrace, To Profess And Observe The Religion Which We Believe To Be Of Divine Origin, We Cannot Deny Equal Freedom To Those Whose Minds Have Not Yet Yielded To The Evidence Which Has Convinced Us. If This Freedom Be Abused, It Is An Offense Against God, Not Against Man:to God, Therefore, Not To Man, Must An Account Of It Be Rendered.

The Most Common And Durable Source Of Faction Has Been The Various And Unequal Distribution Of Property.

Among The Features Peculiar To The Political System Of The United States Is The Perfect Equality Of Rights Which It Secures To Every Religious Sect. [...] Equal Laws Protecting Equal Rights, Are Found As They Ought To Be Presumed, The Best Guarantee Of Loyalty, And Love Of Country; As Well As Best Calculated To Cherish That Mutual Respect And Good Will Among Citizens Of Every Religious Denomination Which Are Necessary To Social Harmony And Most Favorable To The Advancement Of Truth.

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 Interest Of The Man Must Be Connected With The Constitutional Rights Of The Place. It May Be A Reflection On Human Nature, That Such Devices Should Be Necessary To Control The Abuses Of Government. But What Is Government Itself, But The Greatest Of All Reflections On Human Nature?

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.

In Europe, Charters Of Liberty Have Been Granted By Power. America Has Set The Example . . . Of Charters Of Power Granted By Liberty. This Revolution In The Practice Of The World, May, With An Honest Praise, Be Pronounced The Most Triumphant Epoch Of Its History, And The Most Consoling Presage Of Its Happiness.

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

If 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 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.

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

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

Despotism Can Only Exist In Darkness.

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

The Best Reason To Be Assigned, In This Case, For Not Having Made The Constitution More Free From A Charge Of Uncertainty In Its Meaning, Is Believed To Be, That It Was Not Suspected That Any Such Charge Would Ever Take Place; And It Appears That No Such Charge Did Take Place, During The Early Period Of The Constitution, When The Meaning Of Its Authors Could Be Best Ascertained, Nor Until Many Of The Contemporary Lights Had In The Lapse Of Time Been Extinguished. How Often Does It Happen, That A Notoriety Of Intention Diminishes The Caution Against Its Being Misunderstood Or Doubted!

I Have Ever Regarded The Freedom Of Religious Opinions And Worship As Equally Belonging To Every Sect.

Man, Who Preys Both On The Vegetable And Animal Species, Is Himself A Prey To Neither. He Too Possesses The Reproductive Principle Far Beyond The Degree Requisite For The Bare Continuance Of His Species. What Becomes Of The Surplus Of Human Life To Which This Principle Is Competent?

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.

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

It Is To The Press Mankind Are Indebted For Having Dispelled The Clouds Which So Long Encompassed Religion, For Disclosing Her Genuine Lustre, And Disseminating Her Salutary Doctrines.

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

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

By A Faction, I Understand A Number Of Citizens, Whether Amounting To A Majority Or A Minority Of The Whole, Who Are United And Actuated By Some Common Impulse Of Passion, Or Of Interest... The Latent Causes Of Faction Are Sown In The Nature Of Man.

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

The Essence Of Government Is Power; And Power, Lodged As It Must Be In Human Hands, Will Ever Be Liable To Abuse.

Who Does Not See That . . . The Same Authority Which Can Force A Citizen To Contribute Three Pence Only Of His Property For The Support Of Any One Establishment, May Force Him To Conform To Any Other Establishment In All Cases Whatsoever?

Whenever A Youth Is Ascertained To Possess Talents Meriting An Education Which His Parents Cannot Afford, He Should Be Carried Forward At The Public Expense.

We Look Back, Already, With Astonishment, At The Daring Outrages Committed By Despotism, On The Reason And Rights Of Man; We Look Forward With Joy, To The Period, When It Shall Be Despoiled Of All Its Usurpations, And Bound Forever In The Chains, With Which It Had Loaded Its Miserable Victims.

The Latent Causes Of Faction Are Thus Sown In The Nature Of Man; And We See Them Everywhere Brought Into Different Degrees Of Activity, According To The Different Circumstances Of Civil Society.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Can It Be Of Less Consequence That The Meaning Of A Constitution Should Be Fixed And Known, Than A Meaning Of A Law Should Be So?

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.

Americans Have The Right And Advantage Of Being Armed - Unlike The Citizens Of Other Countries Whose Governments Are Afraid To Trust The People With Arms.

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

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

Founding Fathers Religion

Crisis Is The Rallying Cry Of The Tyrant.

Frequent Elections Are Unquestionably The Only Policy By Which This Dependence And Sympathy Can Be Effectually Secured. But What Particular Degree Of Frequency May Be Absolutely Necessary For The Purpose, Does Not Appear To Be Susceptible Of Any Precise Calculation; And Must Depend On A Variety Of Circumstances With Which It May Be Connected. Let Us Consult Experience, The Guide That Ought Always To Be Followed, Whenever It Can Be Found.

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

Inspirational Life

I Should Not Regret A Fair And Full Trial Of The Entire Abolition Of Capital Punishment.

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

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.

They Can Make No Law Which Will Not Have Its Full Operation On Themselves And Their Friends, As Well As On The Great Mass Of The Society.

An Armed And Trained Militia Is The Firmest Bulwark Of Republics - That Without Standing Armies Their Liberty Can Never Be In Danger, Nor With Large Ones Safe.

The 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.

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.

[the Republican Party] Consists Of Those Who, Believing In The Doctrine That Mankind Are Capable Of Governing Themselves And Hating Hereditary Power As An Insult To The Reason And An Outrage To The Rights Of Men, Are Naturally Offended At Every Public Measure That Does Not Appeal To The Understanding And To The General Interest Of The Community.

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.

A Man Has A Property In His Opinions And The Free Communication Of Them.

To What Expedient Then Shall We Finally Resort, For Maintaining In Practice The Necessary Partition Of Power Among The Several Departments, As Laid Down In The Constitution? The Only Answer That Can Be Given Is, That As All These Exterior Provisions Are Found To Be Inadequate, The Defect Must Be Supplied, By So Contriving The Interior Structure Of The Government, As That Its Several Constituent Parts May, By Their Mutual Relations, Be The Means Of Keeping Each Other In Their Proper Places.

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

[montesquieu] Lifted The Veil From The Venerable Errors Which Enslaved Opinion, And Pointed The Way To Those Luminous Truths Of Which He Had But A Glimpse Himself.

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.

Are Not The Daily Devotions Conducted By These Legal Ecclesiastics Already Degenerating Into A Scanty Attendance, And A Tiresome Formality?

We Have Seen The Mere Distinction Of Color Made In The Most Enlightened Period Of Time, A Ground Of The Most Oppressive Dominion Ever Exercised By Man Over Man.

The Smaller The Number And The More Permanent And Conspicuous The Station Of Men In Power, The Stronger Must Be The Interest Which They Will Individually Feel In Whatever Concerns The Government.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

It Is Sufficiently Obvious, That Persons And Property Are The Two Great Subjects On Which Governments Are To Act; And That The Rights Of Persons, And The Rights Of Property, Are The Objects, For The Protection Of Which Government Was Instituted. These Rights Cannot Well Be Separated.

The American People Owe It To Themselves, And To The Cause Of Free Government, To Prove By Their Establishments For The Advancement And Diffusion Of Knowledge, That Their Political Institutionsare As Favorable To The Intellectual And Moral Improvement Of Man As They Are Conformable To His Individual And Social Rights.

In Republican Government The Legislative Authority Necessarily Predominates. The Remedy For This . . . Is To Divide The Legislature Into Different Branches; And To Render Them By Different Modes Of Election, And Different Principles Of Action, As Little Connected With Each Other As The Nature Of Their Common Functions, And Their Common Dependence On The Society, Will Admit.

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.

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

I Have Sometimes Thought There Could Be No Stronger Testimony In Favor Of Religion Or Against Temporal Enjoyments Even The Most Rational And Manly Than For Men Who Occupy The Most Honorable And Gainful Departments And Are Rising In Reputation And Wealth, Publicly To Declare Their Unsatisfactoriness By Becoming Fervent Advocates In The Cause Of Christ, & I Wish You May Give In Your Evidence In This Way. Such Instances Have Seldom Occurred, Therefore They Would Be More Striking And Would Be Instead Of A "cloud Of Witnesses.

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

Democracies Have

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

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.

No Man Is Allowed To Be A Judge In His Own Cause, Because His Interest Would Certainly Bias His Judgment.

Besides The Obscurity Arising From The Complexity Of Objects, And The Imperfection Of The Human Faculties, The Medium Through Which The Conceptions Of Men Are Conveyed To Each Other Adds A Fresh Embarrassment.

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

Constitution Of The United States

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.

Power Is Of An Encroaching Nature.

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

The Nation Which Reposes On The Pillow Of Political Confidence, Will Sooner Or Later End Its Political Existence In A Deadly Lethargy.

Conscience Is The Most Sacred Of All Property.

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 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

Waiving The Rights Of Conscience, Not Included In The Surrender Implied By The Social State, & More Or Less Invaded By All Religious Establishments, The Simple Question To Be Decided, Is Whether A Support Of The Best & Purest Religion, The Christian Religion Itself Ought Not, So Far At Least As Pecuniary Means Are Involved, To Be Provided For By The Government, Rather Than Be Left To The Voluntary Provisions Of Those Who Profess It.

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

We Have Staked The Whole Future Of Our New Nation, Not Upon The Power Of Government; Far From It. We Have Staked The Future Of All Our Political Constitutions Upon The Capacity Of Each Of Ourselves To Govern Ourselves According To The Moral Principles Of The Ten Commandments.

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

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

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

Any Reading Not Of A Vicious Species Must Be A Good Substitute For The Amusements Too Apt To Fill Up The Leisure Of The Labouring Classes.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Government Of The United States Is A Definite Government, Confined To Specified Objects. It Is Not Like The State Governments, Whose Powers Are More General. Charity Is No Part Of The Legislative Duty Of The Government.

Because The Bill Vests In The Said Incorporated Church An Authority To Provide For The Support Of The Poor And The Education Of Poor Children Of The Same, An Authority Which, Being Altogether Superfluous If The Provision Is To Be The Result Of Pious Charity, Would Be A Precedent For Giving To Religious Societies As Such A Legal Agency In Carrying Into Effect A Public And Civil Duty.

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

A 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.

What Is Here A Right Towards Men, Is A Duty Towards The Creator.

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 . . .

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.

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.

The Sober People Of America Are Weary Of The Fluctuating Policy Which Has Directed The Public Councils. They Have Seen With Regret And Indignation That Sudden Changes And Legislative Interferences, In Cases Affecting Personal Rights, Become Jobs In The Hands Of Enterprising And Influential Speculators, And Snares To The More-industrious And Less Informed Part Of The Community. They Have Seen, Too, That One Legislative Interference Is But The First Link Of A Long Chain Of Repetitions, Every Subsequent Interference Being Naturally Produced By The Effects Of The Preceding.

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

The Free System Of Government We Have Established Is So Congenial With Reason, With Common Sense, And With A Universal Feeling, That It Must Produce Approbation And A Desire Of Imitation, As Avenues May Be Found For Truth To The Knowledge Of Nations.

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.

[in The Case Of] Dangerous Exercise Of Other Powers, Not Granted By The Said Compact, The States, Who Are Parties Thereto, Have The Right, And Are Duty Bound, To Interpose For Arresting The Progress Of The Evil.

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

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

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

It Was By The Sober Sense Of Our Citizens That We Were Safely And Steadily Conducted From Monarchy To Republicanism, And It Is By The Same Agency Alone We Can Be Kept From Falling Back.

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

Despotism Can Only Exist In Darkness, And There Are Too Many Lights Now In The Political Firmament To Permit It To Remain Anywhere, As It Has Heretofore Done, Almost Everywhere.

No Government, Any More Than An Individual, Will Long Be Respected Without Being Truly Respectable; Nor Be Truly Respectable, Without Possessing A Certain Portion Of Order And Stability.

[i]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.

It Is A Misfortune, Inseparable From Human Affairs, That Public Measures Are Rarely Investigated With That Spirit Of Moderation Which Is Essential To A Just Estimate Of Their Real Tendency To Advance Or Obstruct The Public Good; And That This Spirit Is More Apt To Be Diminished Than Prompted, By Those Occasions Which Require An Unusual Exercise Of It.

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

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.

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

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

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

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?

Of All The Enemies Of Public Liberty, War Is Perhaps The Most To Be Dreaded, Because It Comprises And Develops The Germ Of Every Other.

If Slavery, As A National Evil, Is To Be Abolished, And It Be Just That It Be Done At The National Expense, The Amount Of The Expense Is Not A Paramount Consideration.

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

Complaints Are Everywhere Heard From Our Most Considerate And Virtuous Citizens, Equally The Friends Of Public And Private Faith, And Of Public And Personal Liberty, That Our Governments Are Too Unstable, That The Public Good Is Disregarded In The Conflicts Of Rival Parties, And That Measures Are Too Often Decided, Not According To The Rules Of Justice And The Rights Of The Minor Party, But By The Superior Force Of An Interested And Overbearing Majority.

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

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

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.

And May I Not Be Allowed To ... Read In The Character Of The American People, In Their Devotion To True Liberty And To The Constitution Which Is Its Palladium [protection], ... A Government Which Watches Over ... The Equal Interdict [prohibition] Against Encroachments And Compacts Between Religion And The State.

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

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

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

[t]he Great Security Against A Gradual Concentration Of The Several Powers In The Same Department Consists In Giving To Those Who Administer Each Department The Necessary Constitutional Means And Personal Motives To Resist Encroachment Of The Others.

The Purpose Of The Constitution Is To Restrict The Majority's Ability To Harm A Minority.

Torrents Of Blood Have Been Spilt In The World In Vain Attempts Of The Secular Arm To Extinguish Religious Discord, By Proscribing All Differences In Religious Opinions.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

[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.

It Is Too Early For Politicians To Presume On Our Forgetting That The Public Good, The Real Welfare Of The Great Body Of The People, Is The Supreme Object To Be Pursued; And That No Form Of Government Whatever Has Any Other Value Than As It May Be Fitted For The Attainment Of This Object.

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.

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

... Large And Permanent Military Establishments ... Are Forbidden By The Principles Of Free Government, And Against The Necessity Of Which The Militia Were Meant To Be A Constitutional Bulwark.

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