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James Madison

126 quotes

“A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1772 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Bradford (9 November 1772)
“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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1773 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Bradford (September 1773), quoted in The Lustre of Our Country : The American Experience of Religious Freedom (2000) by John Thomas Noonan, p. 66
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize, every expanded prospect.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1774 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Bradford (1 April 1774) Addressing proposed use of governmental land for churches
“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it the finger of that Almighty Hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the Revolution.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1818 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Federalist (Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, 1818), p. 194, James Madison, Federalist #37.
“Would it not be as well to liberate and make soldiers at once of the blacks themselves, as to make them instruments for enlisting white soldiers? It would certainly be more consonant to the principles of liberty which ought never to be lost sight of in a contest for liberty...”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1780 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Joseph Jones (28 November 1780)
“Another of my wishes is to depend as little as possible on the labor of slaves.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1785 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Edmund Randolph (26 July 1785)
“Where slavery exists, the republican theory becomes still more fallacious.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Vices of the Political System of the United States (April 1787), Papers 9:350-51
“In order to judge of the form to be given to this institution, it will be proper to take a view of the ends to be served by it. These were, — first, to protect the people against their rulers, secondly, to protect the people against the transient impressions into which they themselves might be led.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks on the institution of the Senate, in debates in the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (26 June 1787) Journal of the Federal Convention, edited by E. H. Scott (1893), pp. 241 – 242
“In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. 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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech, Constitutional Convention (29 June 1787), from Max Farrand's Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. I (1911), p. 465
“In the first place, 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 — it is also a truth, that if industry and labor are left to their own course, they will generally be directed to those objects which are the most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Debating on duties on imports (9 April 1789), published in The Debate and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1834), Vol. 1, Joseph Gales, editor, Washington DC, Gales and Seaton, publisher , pp. 115-116
“Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Jefferson (17 October 1788), as quoted in James Madison : The Writings, 1787-1790 Vol. 5 (1904)]
“The papers inclosed will shew that the nauseous project of amendments has not yet been either dismissed or despatched. We are so deep in them now, that right or wrong some thing must be done.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Richard Peters (19 August 1789)
“It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. Birth however derives its force sometimes from place and sometimes from parentage, but in general place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States; it will therefore be unnecessary to investigate any other.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Constitutional Originalism Requires Birthright Citizenship" (9 September 2018), by Dan McLaughlin, National Review
“It is moreover to weaken in those who profess this Religion a pious confidence in its innate excellence and the patronage of its Author; and to foster in those who still reject it, a suspicion that its friends are too conscious of its fallacies to trust it to its own merits.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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?”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 10 (22 November 1787) Full text from Wikisource
“Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be 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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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. 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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 14 (30 November 1787) Full text at Wikisource. This quotation was used on the official invitations to the 1985 presidential inaugural of President Ronald Reagan.
“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 reconcilable with the genius of the people of America; with the fundamental principles of the Revolution; or with that honorable determination which animates every votary of freedom, to rest all our political experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government. If the plan of the convention, therefore, be found to depart from the republican character, its advocates must abandon it as no longer defensible.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 46 (29 January 1788) Full text at Wikisource
“The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 48 (1 February 1788)
“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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 49 (2 February 1788)
“If it be true that all Governments rest on opinion, it is no less true, that the strength of opinion in each individual, and its practical influence on his conduct, depend much on the number which he supposes to have entertained the same opinion. The reason of man, like man himself, is timid and cautious when left alone; and acquires firmness and confidence, in proportion to the number with which it is associated.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 49 (2 February 1788)
“The danger of disturbing the public tranquillity by interesting too strongly the public passions, is a still more serious objection against a frequent reference of constitutional questions to the decision of the whole society.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 49 (2 February 1788)
“[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 encroachments of the others. The provision for defence must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788) s:The_Federalist_Papers/No._51 Full text at Wikisource
“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)
“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?”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)
“In a free Government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases, will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of People comprehended under the same Government.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 51 (6 February 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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 51 (6 February 1788)
Also quoted by: Alexis de Tocqueville
“I SHALL here, perhaps, be reminded of a current observation, "that where annual elections end, tyranny begins.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Federalist No. 53 (9 February 1788)
“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.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Twenty years will produce all the mischief that can be apprehended from the liberty to import slaves. So long a term will be more dishonorable to the National character than to say nothing about it in the Constitution.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Madison's notes (25 August 1787)
“Mr. MADISON thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men. The reason of duties did not hold, as slaves are not like merchandize, consumed, &c”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regarding using the words "slave" or "slavery" within the U.S. Constitution, in Madison's notes (25 August 1787)
“It must not be so; because we intend this Constitution to be the great charter of Human Liberty to the unborn millions who shall enjoy its protection, and who should never see that such an institution as slavery was ever known in our midst.”
James Madison (1751–1836) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regarding using the words "slave" or "slaver" in the U.S. Constitution (25 August 1787); as quoted in "The Present Aspect of the Slavery Question" in Orations and Addresses of George William Curtis (1894), p. 69
“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As paraphrased in The Great Quotations‎ (1960) by George Seldes, p. 460; this paraphrase has for some time become the most widely quoted form of Madison's statement.
“Yours of yesterday is this instant come to hand & I have but a few minutes to answer it. I am sorry that your situation obliges you to listen to propositions of the nature you describe. My opinion is that a reservation of a right to withdraw if amendments be not decided on under the form of the Constitution within a certain time, is a conditional ratification, that it does not make N. York a member of the New Union, and consequently that she could not be received on that plan. Compacts must be reciprocal, this principle would not in such a case be preserved.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Constitution requires an adoption in toto, and for ever. It has been so adopted by the other States. An adoption for a limited time would be as defective as an adoption of some of the articles only. In short any condition whatever must viciate the ratification. What the New Congress by virtue of the power to admit new States, may be able & disposed to do in such case, I do not enquire as I suppose that is not the material point at present. I have not a moment to add more than my fervent wishes for your success & happiness.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This idea of reserving right to withdraw was started at Richmd. & considered as a conditional ratification which was itself considered as worse than a rejection.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It might prove a great encouragement to manumission in the southern parts of the U.S. and even afford the best hope yet presented of putting an end to the slavery, in which not less than 600,000 unhappy Negroes are now involved...”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source