James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr.was a political theorist, American statesman, and the fourth President of the United States. He is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionUS President
Date of Birth16 March 1751
CityPort Conway, VA
CountryUnited States of America
James Madison quotes about
government numbers rights
The invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from 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.
real lying government-lies
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.
war government order
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. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce. ... The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State.
rights government two
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.
education freedom inspirational-life
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
real government sovereign
Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one.
freedom animal agency
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.
government ideas people
To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.
mean two government
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.
liberty resistance service-to-god
Resistance to tyranny is service to God.
government done constitution
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....
law void congress
[I]t is more convenient to prevent the passage of a law, than to declare it void after it has passed.
inspirational war army
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.
giving liberty protection
The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.