James Madison

James Madison

James Madison Jr. was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States. As one of the authors of the Federalist Papers, he also helped secure the ratification of the Constitution by the states and later the adoption of the Bill of Rights.

Madison was elected the fourth president in 1808.

James Madison quotes

“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 the next place, oblige it to control itself.” ― James Madison

When James Madison said, “The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government” he was expressing where the soul of a free nation must reside, in the people.

― James Madison

"Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power." James Madison

“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it's issuance.”

"Religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and, therefore, that all men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the magistrate, unless under color of religion any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or safety of society, and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity toward each other." ― James Madison

"We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties." James Madison

“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

"Equal laws protecting equal rights the best guarantee of loyalty & love of country." James Madison

[Letter to William Bradford Jr. April 1 1774] ― James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison Volume 3

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." James Madison

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." James Madison

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty." James Madison

"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition." James Madison

"The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted." James Madison

"What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?" James Madison

“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, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison Volume 3

“Philosophy is common sense with big words.” ― James Madison

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” ― James Madison

“The advancement of science and the diffusion of information [is] the best aliment to true liberty.” ― James Madison

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” ― James Madison, Federalist Papers

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. 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” ― James Madison

“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” ― James Madison

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” ― James Madison

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” ― James Madison

“You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.” ― James Madison, The Federalist Papers

“Equal laws protecting equal rights… the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.” ― James Madison

“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree” ― James Madison

“Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties or his possessions. ” ― James Madison

Militia

“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, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” ― James Madison, Letters and other writings of James Madison

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” ― James Madison

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” ― James Madison, The Constitution of the United States of America

“The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.” ― James Madison

Religion

“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind, and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect. ― James Madison

“Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. [Letter to Edward Livingston, 10 July 1822 - Writings 9:100--103]” ― James Madison, James Madison: Writings

“Besides the danger of a direct mixture of religion and civil government, there is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by ecclesiastical corporations. The establishment of the chaplainship in Congress is a palpable violation of equal rights as well as of Constitutional principles. The danger of silent accumulations and encroachments by ecclesiastical bodies has not sufficiently engaged attention in the U.S.” ― James Madison

“It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to usurpation on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded agst. by an entire abstinence of the Govt. from interference in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect agst. trespasses on its legal rights by others. [Letter to the Reverend Jasper Adams, January 1, 1832]” ― James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison Volume 3

“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries. [Letter objecting to the use of government land for churches, 1803]” ― James Madison

Mentions

Welfare
...lious Jews who had just seized control of the city and recently had thrown James, the overseer of the church at Jerusalem during that time, from one of its James Madison may have thought, "Whenever a youth is ascertained to possess talents merit 14 KB (2,192 words) - 01:57, 12 March 2021

Socialism
James Madison, 1787, stated in the Federalist Paper #10 that “Democracy is the most v 16 KB (2,566 words) - 17:33, 5 December 2022

Perfect law of liberty
James 1:25 "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and cont What did James mean when he used that phrase "the perfect law of liberty"? 13 KB (2,212 words) - 02:30, 30 November 2022

Human Events
...eoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure.” 10 KB (1,699 words) - 14:55, 6 July 2019

Money can be anything
James Madison once said “Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, 18 KB (3,252 words) - 15:15, 6 June 2019

Jury
James Madison wrote concerning this bill, in a letter to Edward Pendleton, stating that h 21 KB (3,684 words) - 19:59, 26 September 2022

Conversation with Mosheh
...o theoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure.” James Madison. The growth of virtue in society requires free choice in the hands of the i 71 KB (12,510 words) - 15:30, 28 December 2018

Polybius
...olybius-to-james-madison/ The Separation of Powers: From Polybius to James Madison] 26 KB (4,390 words) - 08:15, 29 November 2022

Democracy
...d democracy was considered to be "most vile form of government"; ...Cranch, 481; 3 Wheat. 324; 1 Greenl. Ev. §489, 504. Vide, generally, Mr. Madison's report in the legislature of Virginia, January, 1800; 1 Story's Com. on C 26 KB (4,506 words) - 19:27, 29 April 2021

Curse children
Jefferson's letter to James Madison (6 September 1789) ME 7:455, Papers 15:393 629 bytes (100 words) - 16:37, 22 January 2019

William Penn
== JAMES MADISON CONCERNING IMMIGRATION AND IMMIGRANTS TO USA == James Madison Quote Concerning Immigration & Immigrants 216 KB (40,567 words) - 09:57, 6 October 2018

Militia
...they were "freemen". Even President James Madison and his Secretary of War James Monroe unsuccessfully attempted to create a national draft of 40,000 men du President James Madison advocated the controversial idea of government funding of [[Public Educatio 26 KB (4,223 words) - 14:31, 3 April 2022

Sovereign

I Federalist 51, James Madison wrote; "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal control

11 KB (1,685 words) - 05:22, 17 January 2021

Universal Service
...eoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure.” “All who have ever written on government are unanimous, that am 14 KB (2,449 words) - 14:37, 30 December 2018

Deist
...hat John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Morris, Madison, Hamilton, and George Washington supporters or followers of a hybrid "theis ...c rationalism is a mix of natural religion, Christianity, and rationalism. Madison knew that the religious principles of the Bible and Christ were essential 29 KB (4,885 words) - 17:18, 31 December 2019

Not my constitution
...nd diligent. Many people who today oppose men like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington and the Constitution do so for al 39 KB (6,697 words) - 06:39, 9 May 2022

Not a party
...tates by John Taylor of Caroline, Virginia, Edited with an Introduction by James McClellan pub. By Regnery Publishing, Inc. Washington, D.C. and from Jesse ...hment of those powers than by violent and sudden usurpations.” 18 KB (2,941 words) - 00:07, 10 March 2022

Statism
James Madison, 1787, stated in the Federalist Paper #10 that “Democracy is the most 8 KB (1,214 words) - 16:56, 19 October 2016

Legal charity
[[File:Poor-laws.jpg|right|thumb|When James Madison said, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”