Federalist Quotes

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It is not the dignitaries who are the real cause of hope, however. What is an enormously refreshing and hopeful sign is to see the young people who make up the membership of the Federalist Society. Earnest, intelligent, and unpretentious, these are the young men and women of whom any nation and any age could be proud. ~ Thomas Sowell
Federalist quotes by Thomas Sowell
But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Federalist quotes by Thomas Jefferson
A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
Democracy is an experimental system. I like it when states try out new ideas. I think we ought to expand, not contract, our federalist system. ~ Alex Tabarrok
Federalist quotes by Alex Tabarrok
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
The causes which have been specified produced at first only unequal and disproportionate degrees of compliance with the requisitions of the Union. The greater deficiencies of some States furnished the pretext of example and the temptation of interest to the complying, or to the least delinquent States. Why should we do more in proportion than those who are embarked with us in the same political voyage? Why should we consent to bear more than our proper share of the common burden? These were suggestions which human selfishness could not withstand, and which even speculative men, who looked forward to remote consequences, could not, without hesitation, combat. Each State, yielding to the persuasive voice of immediate interest or convenience, has successively withdrawn its support, till the frail and tottering edifice seems ready to fall upon our heads, and to crush us beneath its ruins. ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
Rather than make peace with John Adams, he was ready, if necessary, to blow up the Federalist party and let Jefferson become president. The ~ Ron Chernow
Federalist quotes by Ron Chernow
The author characterizes Hamilton's tone in the Federalist papers by saying that he never spoke of problems but of being at the last stage in the crisis. ~ John Ferling
Federalist quotes by John Ferling
Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
There is no allusion to marriage or family in the Constitution. It is barely mentioned in the Federalist Papers or elsewhere in the ratification debates. The reason why the founders "ignored" the family was that it was not an issue for them. It was not a social problem. On the contrary, the family was the accepted substratum of society. It ~ Jean Bethke Elshtain
Federalist quotes by Jean Bethke Elshtain
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire... ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution. And ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
The Constitution's pretty clear. The Federalist papers are pretty clear ... They very specifically delegated the power to declare war to Congress. They wanted this to be a congressional decision; they did not want war to be engaged in by the executive without approval of Congress. ~ Rand Paul
Federalist quotes by Rand Paul
The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
For nearly five decades the World Federalists have worked to promote a strengthened UN and more effective institutions of global governance. I offer my personal endorsement. Now a great opportunity has opened for the realization of the dreams of the UN's founders. ~ Walter Cronkite
Federalist quotes by Walter Cronkite
By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community. ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
The sophisticates of Java, the traders of Sumatra, the peasants from the outer islands found no common ground. During siesta time from one to five, the Islamic group met separately, the Nationalist group met separately, the Federalist and Unitarians met separately. ~ Sukarno
Federalist quotes by Sukarno
through the transcript. Some colleagues, at least, found the whole exercise droll. Fisher Ames, a Federalist ~ Michael Waldman
Federalist quotes by Michael Waldman
Our country, if you read the 'Federalist Papers,' is about disagreement. It's about pitting faction against faction, divided government, checks and balances. The hero in American political tradition is the man who stands up to the mob - not the mob itself. ~ Jonah Goldberg
Federalist quotes by Jonah Goldberg
No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
I tend to be a kind of left federalist. There's a value to more power of certain kinds being positioned at a more local level. ~ Zephyr Teachout
Federalist quotes by Zephyr Teachout
Equal laws protecting equal rights ... the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
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. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
The Second Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, was meant to inhibit only the federal government, not the states. The framers, as The Federalist Papers attest (see No. 28), saw the state militias as forces that might be summoned into action against the federal government itself, if it became tyrannical. ~ Joseph Sobran
Federalist quotes by Joseph Sobran
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. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
There is really quite an inherent danger in the traditional British view that the council of ministers and inter-governmentalism is your protection against the federalist superstate. ~ Gisela Stuart
Federalist quotes by Gisela Stuart
The purpose of the Federalist Society was to bring together young people who had this skepticism about what they were being taught and to let them know that there were others who shared this skepticism. ~ Antonin Scalia
Federalist quotes by Antonin Scalia
I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do? ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
Justin Butterfield of Illinois, a Federalist-turned-Whig, said of the Mexican-American War, said, "I opposed one war and it ruined me. From now on I am for war, pestilence and famine. ~ Michael S. Green
Federalist quotes by Michael S. Green
The first grand federalist design ... was that of the Bible, most particularly the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament ... Biblical thought is federal (from the Latin foedus, covenant) from first to last
from God's covenant with Noah establishing the biblical equivalent of what philosophers were later to term Natural Law to the Jews' reaffirmation of the Sinai covenant under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, thereby adopting the Torah as the constitution of their second commonwealth. The covenant motif is central to the biblical world view, the basis of all relationships, the mechanism for defining and allocating authority, and the foundation of the biblical political teaching. ~ Daniel J. Elazar
Federalist quotes by Daniel J. Elazar
A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of legislative authority," the Federalist tell us. And modern commanders in chief tend to reflexively invoke the war metaphor when the public demands that they take action to solve the emergency of the month, real or imagined.

"War is the health of the state," Randolph Bourne's famous aphorism has it, but Bourne could just as easily written that "war is the health of the presidency." Throughout American history, virtually every major advance in executive power has come during a war or warlike crisis. Convince the public that we are at war, and constitutional barriers to actions fall, as power flows to the commander in chief.

Little wonder, then, that confronted with impossible expectations, the modern president tends to recast social and economic problems in military terms: war on crime, war on drugs, war on poverty. Martial rhetoric often ushers in domestic militarism, as presidents push to employ standing armies at home, to fight drug trafficking, terrorism, or natural disasters. And when the president raises the battle cry, he can usually count on substantial numbers of American opinion leaders to cheer him on. ~ Gene Healy
Federalist quotes by Gene Healy
A good Government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of Government, which is the happiness of the People; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
Subtract everything inessential from America and what's left? Geography and political philosophy, V says. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution. The Federalist Papers. --I'd say geography and mythology, James says. Our legends. He gives examples, talks about Columbus sailing past the edge of the world, John Smith at Jamestown and Puritans at Plymouth Rock, conquering the howling wilderness. Benjamin Franklin going from rags to riches with the help of a little slave trading, Frederick Douglass escaping to freedom, the assassination of Lincoln, annexing the West, All those stories that tell us who we are---stories of exploration, freedom, slavery, and always violence. We keep clutching those things, or at least worn-out images of them, like idols we can't quit worshipping. ~ Charles Frazier
Federalist quotes by Charles Frazier
A propagandized population has a hard time choosing worthy heroes. It is high time Americans celebrate the Anti-Federalists, for they were correct in predicting the fate of freedom after Philadelphia. ~ Ilana Mercer
Federalist quotes by Ilana Mercer
The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
If Jefferson's leadership is to be set apart from others similarly situated later on, it should not be because he was inclined to finesse a frontal assault on the old [Federalist] governmental establishment, but because he transformed national politics so thoroughly without being forced into any make-or-break confrontation with it. Jefferson pursued the reconstruction of American government and politics relentlessly, and the regime he created in the end was profoundly different from the one he displaced. Yet, the most remarkable aspect of his transformation is how little resistance he encountered in the process from the institutions and interests previously attached to the old order. Jefferson's authority to reconstruct proved singularly disarming and all-encompassing. ~ Stephen Skowronek
Federalist quotes by Stephen Skowronek
If we are to be one Nation in any respect, it clearly ought to be in respect to other Nations. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
As Alexander Hamilton said in 'The Federalist Papers,' law is about the exercise of judgment and not will. Judicial activism is best understood as substituting judicial opinion for the command of law. The law is not an infinitely malleable tool. ~ Edwin Meese
Federalist quotes by Edwin Meese
The framers of the Constitution were so clear in the federalist papers and elsewhere that they felt an independent judiciary was critical to the success of the nation. ~ Sandra Day O'Connor
Federalist quotes by Sandra Day O'Connor
I am not a Federalist, because I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself," Jefferson replied to Hopkinson in March 1789.35 "Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all. Therefore I protest to you I am not of the party of federalists. But I am much farther from that of the Antifederalists." Reiterating his positions, ~ Jon Meacham
Federalist quotes by Jon Meacham
In The Federalist, James Madison called the rage for equality 'a wicked project.' People differ and rewards differ-that's the essence of both liberty and justice. No nation that rewards effort, talent, inventiveness and luck can even pretend to cherish equal outcomes. In an inventive and dynamic society, equal (even relatively equal) incomes can be achieved only by abandoning liberty for tyranny. ~ Michael Novak
Federalist quotes by Michael Novak
The Federalist Papers are very clear. Whenever one of the founding fathers and one of the people who was inventing the Constitution, they start to get apoplectic at the mention of Athens, the mention of Pericles, the mention of democracy. They go on and on about mobs, and we don't want this, and we don't want that. We're an oligarchy of the well-to-do. We were at the very beginning, when the Constitution was made, and we're even more so now. ~ Real Network
Federalist quotes by Real Network
Instead of defining a few rights, Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 84, "Here, in strictness, the people surrender nothing, and as they retain everything, they have no need of particular reservations. ~ Thom Hartmann
Federalist quotes by Thom Hartmann
[I]t is now common to describe racial and ethnic diversity as one of America's greatest strengths. It is therefore easy to forget that this is a change in thinking that dates back only to perhaps the 1970s. For most of their history Americans preferred sameness to diversity. In 1787, in the second of The Federalist Papers, John Jay gave thanks that "Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people, a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs . . . ."
Thomas Jefferson was suspicious of the diversity that even white immigrants would bring: 'In proportion to their numbers, they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its directions, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. . . . Suppose 20 millions of republican Americans thrown all of a sudden into France, what would be the condition of that kingdom? It would be more turbulent, less happy, less strong. We believe that the addition of half a million foreigners to our present numbers would produce a similar effect here.'
Alexander Hamilton shared his suspicions: 'The opinion is . . . correct, that foreigners will generally be apt to bring with them attachments to the persons they have left behind; to the country of their nativity, and to its particular customs and manners . ~ Jared Taylor
Federalist quotes by Jared Taylor
What is the Liberty of the Press? Who can give it any definition which does not leave the utmost latitude for evasion? I hold it to be impracticable and from this I infer, that its security, whatever fine declarations may be inserted in any Constitution respecting it, must altogether depend on public opinion, and on the general spirit of the people and of the Government." - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist LXXXIV ~ David Alan Corbin
Federalist quotes by David Alan Corbin
James Madison made clear in Federalist 51 that that this elaborate structure - today often derided as " gridlock " - was created to protect individual freedom against oppression by the majority or by powerful interest groups who exploit government power for their own purposes. ~ Anonymous
Federalist quotes by Anonymous
The rich and the well-born, according to the Federalist Papers, was greatly feared by the founders. ~ John Jay Hooker
Federalist quotes by John Jay Hooker
I am proud to say that the Federalist Society was founded in part at the University of Chicago, and one of its best characteristics has been an attack on liberal shibboleths by looking at real consequences and specific problems and by asking what law actually does. ~ Cass Sunstein
Federalist quotes by Cass Sunstein
Throughout the history of our civilisation, two traditions, two opposed tendencies, have been in conflict: the Roman tradition and the popular tradition, the imperial tradition and the federalist tradition, the authoritarian tradition and the libertarian tradition. ~ Pyotr Kropotkin
Federalist quotes by Pyotr Kropotkin
I think that decisions should rest in the hands of the states. I'm a federalist. ~ John McCain
Federalist quotes by John McCain
They [Federalist European Politicians] divide their time between court room, prison and debating chamber - giving a whole new meaning to the term 'conviction politician'. ~ Margaret Thatcher
Federalist quotes by Margaret Thatcher
Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
Jefferson was relentless in pursuing and putting down threats to his vision of a republican nation. Whether they were Federalist judges and other officeholders - including the chief justice of the United States - or hostile newspapermen, Jefferson's foes faced spirited challenges from the President's House. ~ Jon Meacham
Federalist quotes by Jon Meacham
Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor; not the learned, more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States. They are to be the same who exercise the right in every State of electing the corresponding branch of the legislature of the State. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
If I could not go to heaven with but a party, I would not go there at all. Therefore, I am not of the party of federalists. But I am much further from that of the anti-federalists. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Federalist quotes by Thomas Jefferson
The Internet's distinct configuration may have facilitated anonymous threats, copyright infringement, and cyberattacks, but it has also kindled the flame of freedom in ways that the framers of the American constitution would appreciate - the Federalist papers were famously authored pseudonymously. ~ Jonathan Zittrain
Federalist quotes by Jonathan Zittrain
A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing. ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
For as Alexander Hamilton pointed out in the Federalist Papers nearly two centuries ago, A power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will. ~ Henry Hazlitt
Federalist quotes by Henry Hazlitt
You can look at founding father Alexander Hamilton nevertheless assuring - assuring - the countrymen in Federalist 78 that the role of the federal courts under the proposed Constitution would be limited. ~ Sam Brownback
Federalist quotes by Sam Brownback
Pope John Paul II himself was kind of a rather independent, creative man. I remember being told by somebody who worked very close with him in preparation for his first visit to the United States in 1979, he studied our normative documents, Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution. And he was amazed. He called his priests first
thing in the morning and he said, he said, I thought America was a pagan country. ~ Chris Matthews
Federalist quotes by Chris Matthews
During the election of Washington's successor, it became apparent that the country was sharply divided and that the dissatisfaction with Federalist policies was deep and fervent. ~ Charles A. Beard
Federalist quotes by Charles A. Beard
Owing its ratification to the law of a State, it has been contended that the same authority might repeal the law by which it was ratified. However gross a heresy it may be to maintain that a party to a compact has a right to revoke that compact, the doctrine itself has had respectable advocates. The possibility of a question of this nature, proves the necessity of laying the foundations of our National Government deeper than in the mere sanction of delegated authority. The fabric of American Empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the People. The streams of National power ought to flow immediately from that pure original fountain of all legitimate authority. ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
The Swiss current of Reformed theology of Francis Turretin and Johann Heinrich Heidegger differed from the French approach exemplified by the Academy of Saumur. The northern German Reformed line of Bremen or of the Middle-European Herborn Academy differed from that of the Franeker theologians in the tradition of William Ames. At Leiden, the Cocceian or federalist approach was not identical with the Voetian project at Utrecht. Likewise, the British variety of Reformed theology (John Owen, Richard Baxter), with all its diversity, and the several types of Reformed teaching on the Continent each had an emphasis of their own. Methodologically, this means that we no longer can canonize Geneva, or contrast a non-scholastic Calvin with the later scholastic Calvinists as if they represented a uniform movement. ~ Willem J. Van Asselt
Federalist quotes by Willem J. Van Asselt
And if novelties are to be shunned, believe me, the most alarming of all novelties, the most wild of all projects, the most rash of all attempts, is that of rending us in pieces, in order to preserve our liberties, and promote our happiness. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. ~ James Madison
Federalist quotes by James Madison
My vision of a better world would be one under the control of a strong United Nations, one that truly has the support of all countries in the world. Only an effective world government could provide sufficient law and have the power to control the unboundaried destructive forces of pollution and war. I will continue to be a leader in the World Federalist Association. ~ Lloyd Bridges
Federalist quotes by Lloyd Bridges
Lenin, therefore, begins from the firm and definite principle that the State dies as soon as the socialization of the
means of production is achieved and the exploiting class has consequently been suppressed. Yet, in the same
pamphlet, he ends by justifying the preservation, even after the socialization of the means of production and, without
any predictable end, of the dictatorship of a revolutionary faction over the rest of the people. The pamphlet, which
makes continual reference to the experiences of the Commune, flatly contradicts the contemporary federalist and
anti-authoritarian ideas that produced the Commune; and it is equally opposed to the optimistic forecasts of Marx
and Engels. The reason for this is clear; Lenin had not forgotten that the Commune failed. As for the means of such
a surprising demonstration, they were even more simple: with each new difficulty encountered by the revolution, the
State as described by Marx is endowed with a supplementary prerogative. Ten pages farther on, without any kind of
transition, Lenin in effect affirms that power is necessary to crush the resistance of the exploiters "and also to direct
the great mass of the population, peasantry, lower middle classes, and semi-proletariat, in the management of the
socialist economy." The shift here is undeniable; the provisional State of Marx and Engels is charged with a new
mission, which risks prolonging its life indefinitely. Al ~ Albert Camus
Federalist quotes by Albert Camus
It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience. If there be no penalty annexed to disobedience, the resolutions or commands which pretend to be laws will, in fact, amount to nothing more than advice or recommendation. This penalty, whatever it may be, can only be inflicted in two ways: by the agency of the Courts and Ministers of Justice, or by military force; by the coercion of the magistracy, or by the coercion of arms. The first kind can evidently apply only to men: the last kind must, of necessity, be employed against bodies politic, or communities, or States. ~ Alexander Hamilton
Federalist quotes by Alexander Hamilton
The die is cast in Canada: there are two ethnic and linguistic groups; each is too strong and too deeply rooted in the past, too firmly bound to a mother culture, to be able to swamp the other. But if the two will collaborate inside of a truly pluralist state, Canada could become a privileged place where the federalist form of government, which is the government of tomorrow's world, will be perfected. ~ Pierre Trudeau
Federalist quotes by Pierre Trudeau
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