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
government views practice
At first view it might seem not to square with the republican theory, to suppose either that a majority have not the right, or that a minority will have the force to subvert a government . . . . But theoretic reasoning in this, as in most other cases, must be qualified by the lessons of practice.
practice people serious
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
freedom europe practice
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.
past government practice
We may be assured by past experience, that such a practice [as some states charging high taxes on goods from other states] would be introduced by future contrivances; and both by that and a common knowledge of human affairs, that it would nourish unceasing animosities, and not improbably terminate in serious interruptions of the public tranquility.
christian practice charity
It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other.
government practice giving
[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.
mean practice government
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.
practice abuse growth
Some degree of abuse is inseparable from the proper use of every thing; and in no instance is this more true than in that of the press. It has accordingly been decided, by the practice of the states, that it is better to leave a few of its noxious branches to their luxuriant growth, than, by pruning them away, to injure the vigor of those yielding the proper fruits.
endangered liberty
Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as by the abuses of power.
enemies liberty public war
Of all the enemies of public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded.
against charged home provisions
The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad.
certain men ought power
All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.
advantage almost armed constitution people possess trust
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
acquiring government information means perhaps prologue
A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.