They can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of the society.
James MadisonEach generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.
James MadisonBesides the obscurity arising from the complexity of objects, and the imperfection of the human faculties, the medium through which the conceptions of men are conveyed to each other adds a fresh embarrassment.
James MadisonOppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.
James MadisonWhat becomes of the surplus of human life? It is either, 1st. destroyed by infanticide, as among the Chinese and Lacedemonians; or 2d. it is stifled or starved, as among other nations whose population is commensurate to its food; or 3d. it is consumed by wars and endemic diseases; or 4th. it overflows, by emigration, to places where a surplus of food is attainable.
James MadisonIt may be considered as an objection inherent in the principle, that as every appeal to the people would carry an implication of some defect in the government, frequent appeals would in great measure deprive the government of that veneration which time bestows on every thing, and without which perhaps the wisest and freest governments would not possess the requisite stability . . . a constitutional road to the decision of the people ought to be marked out and kept open, for certain great and extraordinary occasions
James Madison