James Madison
American statesman (1751 to 1836); fourth US President and co-author of The Federalist.
James Madison did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
What they believe
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In very large assemblies passion always overpowers reason
In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.
gutenberg.orgSaid 13 Feb 1788This on korrents
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Each person's religion must be left to their own conviction and conscience
The religion, then, of every man, must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate.
en.wikisource.orgSaid c. 1784–1785This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 31 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
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In very large assemblies passion always overpowers reason
In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 13 Feb 1788
Republican government presupposes more virtue in people than any other form
As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 13 Feb 1788
Ambition must be set against ambition so that each branch resists the others
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 6 Feb 1788
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If people were angels no government would be needed
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 Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 6 Feb 1788
Justice is the end of government and of civil society
Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 6 Feb 1788
Concentrating legislative, executive and judicial power in the same hands is the definition of tyranny
The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 30 Jan 1788
A republic may be defined, or at least named, as a government deriving its powers from the people and run by officials with limited or conditional tenure
If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which different forms of government are established, we may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 16 Jan 1788
The proposed Constitution is neither purely national nor purely federal but a mix of both
The proposed Constitution, therefore, is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal Constitution, but a composition of both.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 16 Jan 1788
A democracy is confined to a small area while a republic can extend over a large region
A democracy, consequently, will be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 30 Nov 1787
Unequal distribution of property has been the most common and durable source of factions
But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 22 Nov 1787
Regulating competing economic interests is the main task of modern legislation
The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 22 Nov 1787
Enlightened statesmen will not always be in charge, so a system cannot rely on them
It is in vain to say that enlightened statesmen will be able to adjust these clashing interests, and render them all subservient to the public good. Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 22 Nov 1787
A pure democracy can offer no cure for the harms of faction
From this view of the subject it may be concluded that 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.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 22 Nov 1787
A larger republic makes it less likely a majority will unite to invade others' rights
Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other.
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) Said 22 Nov 1787
Each person's religion must be left to their own conviction and conscience
The religion, then, of every man, must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Religious freedom is unalienable because beliefs cannot follow other people's dictates
It is unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated in their own minds, cannot follow the dictates of other men: it is unalienable, also, because what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
A person is subject to the Creator before being a member of civil society
Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe; and if a member of civil society, who enters into any subordinate association, must always do it with a reservation of his duty to the general authority, much more must every man who becomes a member of any particular civil society do it with the saving his allegiance to the Universal Sovereign.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Majority rule is the only final arbiter, yet a majority may trespass on minority rights
True it is, that no other rule exists by which any question which may divide society can be ultimately determined, but the will of the majority; but it is also true that the majority may trespass on the rights of the minority.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Rulers who encroach on the people's rights exceed their authority and are tyrants
The rulers who are guilty of such an encroachment, exceed the commission from which they derive their authority, and are tyrants.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Citizens should take alarm at the first experiment on their liberties
Because it is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
A power that can establish Christianity can as easily establish any single sect
Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish, with the same ease, any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
The civil magistrate is not a competent judge of religious truth nor should use religion as policy
Because the bill implies, either that the civil magistrate is a competent judge of truth, or that he may employ religion as an engine of civil policy. The first is an arrogant pretension, falsified by the contradictory opinions of rulers in all ages, and throughout the world; the second is an unhallowed perversion of the means of salvation.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Legal support for a religion weakens believers' confidence and invites unbelievers' suspicion
It is, moreover, to weaken in those who profess this religion a pious confidence in its innate excellence, and the patronage of its Author; and to foster in those who still reject it, a suspicion that its friends are too conscious of its fallacies to trust it to its own merits.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Church establishments have harmed rather than preserved the purity of religion
Because experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Established Christianity has bred clerical pride, lay servility, bigotry and persecution
What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laiety; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Established churches have upheld tyranny and never guarded the people's liberties
In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the People.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
A just government is best supported by protecting every citizen's religion equally
Such a Government will be best supported by protecting every citizen in the enjoyment of his religion, with the same equal hand that protects his person and property; by neither invading the equal rights of any sect, nor suffering any sect to invade those of another.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Funding religion by law turns an asylum for the persecuted into a signal of persecution
Instead of holding forth an asylum to the persecuted, it is itself a signal of persecution. It degrades from the equal rank of citizens all those whose opinions in religion do not bend to those of the legislative authority.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
A mild religious establishment differs from the Inquisition only in degree
Distant as it may be, in its present form, from the Inquisition, it differs only in degree. The one is the first step, the other the last, in the career of intolerance.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Equal and complete religious liberty curbs the harm religious discord does to the state
The American theatre has exhibited proofs, that equal and complete liberty, if it does not wholly eradicate it, sufficiently destroys its malignant influence on the health and prosperity of the State.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
Enforcing laws that many citizens find obnoxious tends to weaken law in general
Because attempts to enforce by legal sanctions, acts obnoxious to so great a proportion of citizens, tend to enervate the laws in general, and to slacken the bands of society.
A Memorial and Remonstrance (written 1784-1785; 1828 printing) Said c. 1784–1785
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