Thursday, February 1, 2007
“[D]emocracies 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, 1787 - Federalist No. 10
Reference: Madison, Federalist No. 10 (81)
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” -
John Adams, 1775 - letter to Abigail Adams
Reference: Adam’s Family Correspondence, Butterfiled, ed. vol. 1 (241)
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, - who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia. - George Mason, 1778 - speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention
Reference: The Debates of the Several State…, Elliot, vol. 3 (380)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws: its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any. -
James Madison, 1787 - Federalist No. 14
Reference: Madison, Federalist No. 14
Saturday, January 20, 2007
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. - Thomas Jefferson, 1816 - letter to Joseph Milligan
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Reference: Vindicating the Founders, West (136); original Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Bergh, ed., vol. 14 (466)