But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm . . . But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.

James Madison

Categorized in : Government Ambitious Federalism

Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.

James Madison

army strength peace

The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

James Madison

constitution law america

The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority.

James Madison

majority minorities purpose

We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility because wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a few. A Republic cannot stand upon bayonets, and when the day comes when the wealth of the nation will be in the hands of a few, then we must rely upon the wisdom of the best elements in the country to readjust the laws of the nations to the changed conditions.

James Madison

wisdom country hands

Disarm the people- that is the best and most effective way to enslave them.

James Madison

gun people way

If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within.

James Madison

over-it nations taken

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

James Madison

freedom fear inspirational

If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?

James Madison

fit ifs men

Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.

James Madison

rallying-cry presidential tyrants

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.

James Madison

strength ambition peace

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

James Madison

freedom wisdom education

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

James Madison

liberty president people

We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.

James Madison

religious god bible

Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

James Madison

debt libertarian army

The very definition of tyranny is when all powers are gathered under one place.

James Madison

definitions tyranny

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.

James Madison

government war order

A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.

James Madison

liberty military long

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

angel men lying

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.

James Madison

sacrifice passion party

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.

James Madison

liberty country people