Quotes by James Madison In forming the Senate, the great anchor of the Government, the questions as they came within the first object turned mostly on the mode of appointment, and the duration of it. -= letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 24, 1787 =- 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. -= Federalist No. 14, November 30, 1787 =- 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 -= Federalist No. 14, November 30, 1787 =- Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them. -= speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788 =- 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. -= Notes on Nullification =- It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune. This necessity however exists; and the problem to be solved is, not what form of Government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect. -= to an unidentified correspondent, 1833 =- It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute. -= letter to the Dey of Algiers, August, 1816 =- It is due to justice; due to humanity; due to truth; 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 upon by our laws, and have an interest in our laws. -= speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, December 2, 1829 =- It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution. -= Federalist No. 37, January 11, 1788 =- 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. -= Speech at the Virginia Convention, December 2, 1829 =- It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. -= Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, Circa June 20, 1785 =- 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. -= Federalist No. 45, January 26, 1788 =- 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. -= Federalist No. 49, February 5, 1788 =- It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. After discriminating, therefore, in theory, the several classes of power, as they may in their nature be legislative, executive, or judiciary, the next and most difficult task is to provide some practical security for each, against the invasion of the others. -= Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788 =- 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. -= Federalist No. 51, February 8, 1788 =- > Showing results 46 to 60 of 121 Subscribe Search Founding Fathers Adams, John (61) Adams, Samuel (63) Bartlett, Josiah (1) Braxton, Carter (1) Carroll, Charles (1) Chase, Samuel (2) Clark, Abraham (2) Clymer, George (4) Ellery, William (14) Floyd, William (0) Franklin, Benjamin (65) Gerry, Elbridge (1) Gwinnett, Button (0) Hall, Lyman (0) Hamilton, Alexander (103) Hancock, John (1) Harrison V, Benjamin (0) Hart, John (0) Henry, Patrick (10) Hewes, Joseph (0) Heyward, Thomas (0) Hooper, William (0) Hopkins, Stephen (0) Hopkinson, Francis (0) Huntington, Samuel (0) Jay, John (1) Jefferson, Thomas (92) Lee, Francis Lightfoot (0) Lee, Richard Henry (3) Lewis, Francis (0) Livingston, Philip (0) Lynch, Thomas (0) Madison, James (121) McKean, Thomas (0) Middleton, Arthur (0) Morris, Lewis (1) Morris, Robert (0) Morton, John (0) Nelson, Thomas (0) Otis, James (2) Paca, William (0) Paine, Robert Treat (0) Paine, Thomas (29) Penn, John (0) Read, George (0) Rodney, Caesar (0) Ross, George (0) Rush, Benjamin (2) Rutledge, Edward (0) Sherman, Roger (0) Smith, James (0) Stockton, Richard (0) Stone, Thomas (0) Taylor, George (0) Thomson, Charles (0) Thornton, Matthew (0) Walton, George (0) Washington, George (110) Whipple, William (0) Williams, William (0) Wilson, James (0) Witherspoon, John (0) Wolcott, Oliver (0) Wythe, George (0) Other Related Sites Political BLOG The 9-12 Project © 2009 FoundingFatherQuotes - This is a Mike Kieffer web property.
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