Category: James Madison

Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.

The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.

A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? 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.

The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

The essence of Government is power and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.