It becomes all therefore who are friends of a Government based on free principles to reflect, that by denying the possibility of a system partly federal and partly consolidated, and who would convert ours into one either wholly federal or wholly consolidated, in neither of which forms have individual rights, public order, and external safety, been all duly maintained, they aim a deadly blow at the last hope of true liberty on the face of the Earth.
James MadisonThe experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting Usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity.
James MadisonEvery new and successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance.
James MadisonLet me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.
James MadisonThe proposed Constitution is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both.
James Madison