James Madison Quotes about Character

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The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon . . . has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.

The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon . . . has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.

James Madison

Communication, Character, People

Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates, J. W. Randolph, James Madison (1850). “The Virginia Report of 1799-1800: Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, Including the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia and Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions”, p.23

With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.

James Madison

Character, Government, Liberty

James Madison's letter to James Robertson, April 20, 1831.

And may I not be allowed to ... read in the character of the American people, in their devotion to true liberty and to the Constitution which is its palladium [protection], ... a Government which watches over ... the equal interdict [prohibition] against encroachments and compacts between religion and the state.

James Madison

Character, Government, People

Respect for character is always diminished in proportion to the number among whom the blame or praise is to be divided.

James Madison

Respect, Character, Numbers

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

[R]efusing or not refusing to execute a law to stamp it with its final character . . . makes the Judiciary department paramount in fact to the Legislature, which was never intended and can never be proper.

James Madison

Character, Law, Finals

Stability in government is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which are among the chief blessings of civil society.

James Madison

Character, Patriotic, Blessing

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Quentin P. Taylor, John Jay (1998). “The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers”, p.73, Rowman & Littlefield

It is due to justice; due to humanity; due to truth; due to the sympathies of our nature; in fine, to our character as a people, both abroad and at home, that they should be considered, as much as possible, in the light of human beings, and not as mere property. As such, they are acted on by our laws, and have an interest in our laws. They may be considered as making a part, though a degraded part, of the families to which they belong.

James Madison

Character, Home, Light

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

The political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free Government, and as they become incorporated with national sentiment, counteract the impulses of interest and passion.

James Madison

Passion, Character, Government

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

[Regarding legislative assemblies,] the number ought at most to be kept within a certain limit, in order to avoid the confusion and intemperance of a multitude. In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever characters composed, passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.

James Madison

Character, Passion, Order

James Madison, John Jay (1901). “The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States”

If justice, good faith, honor, gratitude and all the other qualities which enoble the character of a nation, and fulfill the ends of Government be the fruits of our establishments, the cause of liberty will acquire a dignity and lustre, which it has never yet enjoyed, and an example will be set, which can not but have the most favorable influence on the rights of Mankind.

James Madison

Gratitude, Freedom, Character

Jonathan Elliot, James Madison, United States. Constitutional Convention (1836). “The debates in the several state conventions on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, as recommended by the general convention at Philadelphia in 1787: Together with the Journal of the Federal convention, Luther Martin's letter, Yates's minutes, Congressional opinions, Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of '98-'99, and other illustrations of the Constitution”, p.131

Outlets for the freed blacks are alone wanted for the erasure of the blot from our Republican character.

James Madison

Character, Slavery, Republican

James Madison (1865). “Letters and other writings of James Madison”, p.60

But the mere circumstance of complexion cannot deprive them of the character of men.

James Madison

Character, Men, Human Nature

James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing