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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.

-James Madison

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Whatever May Be The

James Madison

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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.

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

Democracies Have

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

It Would Have Marked A Want Of Foresight In The Convention, Which Our Own Experience Would Have Rendered Inexcusable.

Constitutional Convention

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

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

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

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

[t]he Bill Exceeds The Rightful Authority To Which Governments Are Limited By The Essential Distinction Between Civil And Religious Functions, And Violates In Particular The Article Of The Constitution Of The United States Which Declares That Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting A Religious Establishment.... This Particular Church, Therefore, Would So Far Be A Religious Establishment By Law, A Legal Force And Sanction Being Given To Certain Articles In Its Constitution And Administration.

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

Learned Institutions Ought To Be Favorite Objects With Every Free People. They Throw That Light Over The Public Mind Which Is The Best Security Against Crafty And Dangerous Encroachments On The Public Liberty.

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

Enlightened Statesmen Will Not Always Be At The Helm.

Resolved, That The General Assembly Of Virginia, Doth Unequivocally Express A Firm Resolution To Maintain And Defend The Constitution Of The United States, And The Constitution Of This State, Against Every Aggression Either Foreign Or Domestic, And That They Will Support The Government Of The United States In All Measures Warranted By The Former.

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

On Any Other Hypothesis, The Delegation Of Judicial Power Would Annul The Authority Delegating It; And The Concurrence Of This Department With The Others In Usurped Powers, Might Subvert Forever, And Beyond The Possible Reach Of Any Rightful Remedy, The Very Constitution Which All Were Instituted To Preserve.

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

But The Mild Voice Of Reason, Pleading The Cause Of An Enlarged And Permanent Interest, Is But Too Often Drowned, Before Public Bodies As Well As Individuals, By The Clamors Of An Impatient Avidity For Immediate And Immoderate Gain.

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

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

If Tyranny And Oppression Come To This Land, It Will Be In The Guise Of Fighting A Foreign Enemy.

There Is In Every Breast A Sensibility To Marks Of Honor, Of Favor, Of Esteem, And Of Confidence, Which, Apart From All Considerations Of Interest, Is Some Pledge For Grateful And Benevolent Returns. Ingratitude Is A Common Topic Of Declamation Against Human Nature; And It Must Be Confessed, That Instances Of It Are But Too Infrequent And Flagrant Both In Public And In Private Life. But The Universal And Extreme Indignation Which It Inspires, Is Itself A Proof Of The Energy And Prevalence Of The Contrary Sentiment.

A Just Government Has No Need For The Clergy Or The Church.

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

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

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.

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

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

War Contains So Much Folly, As Well As Wickedness, That Much Is To Be Hoped From The Progress Of Reason.

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.

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.

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 Class Of Citizens Who Provide At Once Their Own Food And Their Own Raiment, May Be Viewed As The Most Truly Independent And Happy. They Are More: They Are The Best Basis Of Public Liberty, And The Strongest Bulwark Of Public Safety. It Follows, That The Greater The Proportion Of This Class To The Whole Society, The More Free, The More Independent, And The More Happy Must Be The Society Itself.

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

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.

Religion, Or The Duty We Owe To Our Creator, And Manner Of Discharging It, Can Be Directed Only By Reason And Conviction, Not By Force Or Violence; And, Therefore, That All Men Should Enjoy The Fullest Toleration In The Exercise Of Religion According To The Dictates Of Conscience, Unpunished And Unrestrained By The Magistrate, Unless Under Color Of Religion Any Man Disturb The Peace, The Happiness, Or Safety Of Society, And That It Is The Mutual Duty Of All To Practice Christian Forbearance, Love And Charity Toward Each Other.

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.

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.

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.

I, Sir, Have Always Conceived - I Believe Those Who Proposed The Constitution Conceived,and It Is Still More Fully Known, And More Material To Observe, Those Who Ratified The Constitution Conceived, That This Is Not An Indefinite Government Deriving Its Powers From The General Terms Prefixed To The Specified Powers - But, A Limited Government Tied Down To The Specified Powers, Which Explain And Define The General Terms.

To The Press Alone, Chequered As It Is With Abuses, The World Is Indebted For All The Triumphs Which Have Been Gained By Reason And Humanity Over Error And Oppression.

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

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

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

A Victorious And Powerful Ally Is But Another Name For A Master.

The Two Great Points Of Difference Between A Democracy And A Republic Are: First, The Delegation Of The Government, In The Latter,to A Small Number Of Citizens Elected By The Rest; Secondly, The Greater Number Of Citizens And Greater Sphere Of Country Over Which The Latter May Be Extended.

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 Upon A Number, Than When It Is To Fall Singly Upon One. A Spirit Of Faction . . . Will Often Hurry The Persons Of Whom They Were Composed Into Improprieties And Excesses For Which They Would Blush In A Private Capacity.

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

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

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

Resistance To Tyranny Is Service To God.

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.

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

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

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.

Ecclesiastical Establishments Tend To Great Ignorance And Corruption

Religious Truth

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

... The State Legislatures Will Jealously And Closely Watch The Operations Of This Government, And Be Able To Resist With More Effect Every Assumption Of Power, Than Any Other Power On Earth Can Do; And The Greatest Opponents To A Federal Government Admit The State Legislatures To Be Sure Guardians Of The People's Liberty.

Liberty Is To Faction What Air Is To Fire.

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

We Are Right To Take Alarm At The First Experiment Upon Our Liberties.

Tyranny Founding Fathers

The Capacity Of The Female Mind For Studies Of The Highest Order Cannot Be Doubted, Having Been Sufficiently Illustrated By Its Works Of Genius, Of Erudition, And Of Science.

How A Regulation So Unjust In Itself, So Foreign To The Authority Of Congress, And So Hurtful To The Sale Of Public Land, And Smelling So Strongly Of An Antiquated Bigotry, Could Have Received The Countenance Of A Committee Is Truly A Matter Of Astonishment.

Every New Regulation Concerning Commerce Or Revenue; Or In Any Manner Affecting The Value Of The Different Species Of Property, Presents A New Harvest To Those Who Watch The Change And Can Trace Its Consequences; A Harvest Reared Not By Themselves But By The Toils And Cares Of The Great Body Of Their Fellow Citizens. This Is A State Of Things In Which It May Be Said With Some Truth That Laws Are Made For The Few Not For The Many.

Philosophy Is Common Sense With Big Words.

I Own Myself The Friend To A Very Free System Of Commerce, And Hold It As A Truth, That Commercial Shackles Are Generally Unjust, Oppressive And Impolitic.

[t]he Delegation Of The Government, In [a Republic], To A Small Number Of Citizens Elected By The Rest . . . [is] To Refine And Enlarge The Public Views By Passing Them Through The Medium Of A Chosen Body Of Citizens, Whose Wisdom May Best Discern The True Interest Of Their Country And Whose Patriotism And Love Of Justice Will Be Least Likely To Sacrifice It To Temporary Or Partial Considerations.

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

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.

The Constitution Supposes, What The History Of All Governments Demonstrates, That The Executive Is The Branch Of Power Most Interested In War, And Most Prone To It.

As A Man Is Said To Have A Right To His Property, He May Be Equally Said To Have A Property In His Rights.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

It Is Very Certain That [the Commerce Clause] Grew Out Of The Abuse Of The Power By The Importing States In Taxing The Non-importing, And Was Intended As A Negative And Preventive Provision Against Injustice Among The States Themselves, Rather Than As A Power To Be Used For The Positive Purposes Of The General Government.

Testimony Of All Ages Forces Us To Admit That War Is Among The Most Dangerous Enemies To Liberty, And That The Executive Is The Branch Most Favored By It Of All The Branches Of Power.

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

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

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

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

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

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!

It Is Certain That Every Class Is Interested In [educational] Establishments Which Give To The Human Mind Its Highest Improvements, And To Every Country Its Truest And Most Durable Celebrity.

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.

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.

The Political Truths Declared In That Solemn Manner Acquire By Degrees The Character Of Fundamental Maxims Of Free Government, And As They Become Incorporated With National Sentiment, Counteract The Impulses Of Interest And Passion.

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

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.

With Respect To The Words "general Welfare," I Have Always Regarded Them As Qualified By The Detail Of Powers Connected With Them. To Take Them In A Literal And Unlimited Sense Would Be A Metamorphosis Of The Constitution Into A Character Which There Is A Host Of Proofs Was Not Contemplated By Its Creators.

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

The Liberal Appropriations Made By The Legislature Of Kentucky For A General System Of Education Cannot Be Too Much Applauded . . . . Learned Institutions Ought To Be The Favorite Objects With Every Free People. They Throw That Light Over The Public Mind Which Is The Best Security Against Crafty And Dangerous Encroachments On The Public Liberty . . . . What Spectacle Can Be More Edifying Or More Seasonable Than That Of Liberty And Learning, Each Leaning On The Other For Their Mutual And Surest Support?

The Rich Man, When Contributing To A Permanent Plan For The Education Of The Poor, Ought To Reflect That He Is Providing For That Of His Own Descendants; And The Poor Man Who Concurs In A Provision For Those Who Are Not Poor That At No Distant Day It May Be Enjoyed By Descendants From Himself. It Does Not Require A Long Life To Witness These Vicissitudes Of Fortune.

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

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

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

Tyranny Founding Fathers

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

[in Government] The Constant Aim Is To Divide And Arrange The Several Offices In Such A Manner As That Each May Be A Check On The Other-that The Private Interest Of Every Individual May Be A Sentinel Over The Public Rights.

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 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.

The Important Distinction So Well Understood In America Between A Constitution Established By The People, And Unalterable By The Government; And A Law Established By The Government, And Alterable By The Government, Seems To Have Been Little Understood And Less Observed In Any Other Country. Wherever The Supreme Power Of Legislation Has Resided, Has Been Supposed To Reside Also, A Full Power To Change The Form Of Government.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 Powers Of The Federal Government ... Result From The Compact To Which The States Are Parties, [and Are] Limited By The Plain Sense And Intention Of The Instrument Constituting That Compact.

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.

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

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

Experience Has Instructed Us That No Skill In The Science Of Government Has Yet Been Able To Discriminate And Define, With Sufficient Certainty, Its Three Great Provinces The Legislative, Executive, And Judiciary; Or Even The Privileges And Powers Of The Different Legislative Branches.

Respect For Character Is Always Diminished In Proportion To The Number Among Whom The Blame Or Praise Is To Be Divided.

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

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.

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.

The Constitution Proposed By The Convention May Be Considered Under Two General Points Of View. The First Relates To The Sum Or Quantity Of Power Which It Vests In The Government, Including The Restraints Imposed On The States. The Second, To The Particular Structure Of The Government, And The Distribution Of This Power Among Its Branches.

As The People Are The Only Legitimate Fountain Of Power, And It Is From Them That The Constitutional Charter, Under Which The Several Branches Of Government Hold Their Power, Is Derived, It Seems Strictly Consonant To The Republican Theory, To Recur To The Same Original Authority, Not Only Whenever It May Be Necessary To Enlarge, Diminish, Or New-model The Powers Of The Government, But Also Whenever Any One Of The Departments May Commit Encroachments On The Chartered Authorities Of The Others.

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

[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.

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

Good Conscience Is The Most Valuable Asset Of All!

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

What Spectacle Can Be More Edifying Or More Seasonable, Than That Of Liberty And Learning, Each Leaning On The Other For Their Mutual And Surest Support?

There Is No Maxim, In My Opinion, Which Is More Liable To Be Misapplied, And Which, Therefore, More Needs Elucidation, Than The Current One, That The Interest Of The Majority Is The Political Standard Of Right And Wrong.

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

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

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

The 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.

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.

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

I Acknowledge, In The Ordinary Course Of Government, That The Exposition Of The Laws And Constitution Devolves Upon The Judicial. But I Beg To Know Upon What Principle It Can Be Contended That Any One Department Draws From The Constitution Greater Powers Than Another In Marking Out The Limits Of The Powers Of The Several Departments.

[in A Democracy] A Common Passion Or Interest Will, In Almost Every Case , Be Felt By A Majority Of The Whole; A Communication And Concert Results From The Form Of Government Itself; And There Is Nothing To Check The Inducements To Sacrifice The Weaker Party Or An Obnoxious Individual.

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.

[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 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.

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.

[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 Experience Of The United States Is A Happy Disproof Of The Error So Long Rooted In The Unenlightened Minds Of Well Meaning Christians, As Well As In The Corrupt Hearts Of Persecuting Usurpers, That Without A Legal Incorporation Of Religious And Civil Polity, Neither Could Be Supported. A Mutual Independence Is Found Most Friendly To Practical Religion, To Social Harmony, And To Political Prosperity.

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.

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.

Congress Should Not Establish A Religion, And Enforce The Legal Observation Of It By Law, Nor Compel Men To Worship God In Any Manner Contrary To Their Conscience.

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

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

A People Armed And Free, Forms A Barrier Against The Enterprises Of Ambition And Is A Bulwark For The Nation Against Foreign Invasion And Domestic Oppression.

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

It Is Superfluous To Try By The Standards Of Theory, A Part Of The Constitution Which Is Allowed On All Hands To Be The Result Not Of Theory, But "of A Spirit Of Amity, And That Mutual Deference And Concession Which The Peculiarity Of Our Political Situation Rendered Indispensable" . . . The Equal Vote Allowed To Each State, Is At Once A Constitutional Recognition Of The Portion Of Sovereignty Remaining In The Individual States, And An Instrument For Preserving That Residuary Sovereignty.

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

So Strong Is This Propensity Of Mankind To Fall Into Mutual Animosities, That Where No Substantial Occasion Presents Itself, The Most Frivolous And Fanciful Distinctions Have Been Sufficient To Kindle Their Unfriendly Passions And Excite Their Most Violent Conflicts. But The Most Common And Durable Source Of Factions Has Been The Various And Unequal Distribution Of Property.

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

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.

Government Destitute Of Energy, Will Ever Produce Anarchy.

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 Apportionment Of Taxes On The Various Descriptions Of Property Is An Act Which Seems To Require The Most Exact Impartiality; Yet There Is, Perhaps, No Legislative Act In Which Greater Opportunity And Temptation Are Given To A Predominant Party To Trample On The Rules Of Justice. Every Shilling Which They Overburden The Inferior Number Is A Shilling Saved To Their Own Pockets.

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

Our Constitution Represents The Work Of The Finger Of Almighty God.

A Bad Cause Seldom Fails To Betray Itself.

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

[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.

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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

Democracies Have

An Oath-the Strongest Of Religious Ties.

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

To Refer The Power In Question To The Clause "to Provide For The Common Defense And General Welfare" Would Be Contrary To The Established And Consistent Rules Of Interpretation, As Rendering The Special And Careful Enumeration Of Powers Which Follow The Clause Nugatory And Improper. Such A View Of The Constitution Would Have The Effect Of Giving To Congress A General Power Of Legislation Instead Of The Defined And Limited One Hitherto Understood To Belong To Them, The Terms "common Defense And General Welfare" Embracing Every Object And Act Within The Purview Of A Legislative Trust.

The 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.

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.

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

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

The Diversity In The Faculties Of Men, From Which The Rights Of Property Originate, Is Not Less An Insuperable Obstacle To An Uniformity Of Interests. The Protection Of These Faculties Is The First Object Of Government.

We've Staked Our Future On Our Ability To Follow The Ten Commandments With All Our Heart.

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, Possessing Enumerated Powers, But An Indefinite One.

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