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As compacts, charters of government are superior in obligation to all others, because they give effect to all others. As truths, none can be more sacred, because they are bound, on the conscience by the religious sanctions of an oath. As metes and bounds of government, they transcend all other land-marks, because every public usurpation is an encroachment on the private right, not of one, but of all.
James Madison
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the supreme importance of governmental charters as both legal and moral obligations.

James Madison asserts that governmental charters are fundamentally superior because they manifest and uphold all other laws and principles. He highlights the sacredness of these agreements, as they are backed by the moral weight of an oath, emphasizing that any violation of these charters is not just a legal issue but an infringement on the collective rights of the public. Therefore, these charters serve as the essential framework of society, transcending all other regulations and serving as critical protections for individual rights.

Themes

GovernmentChartersRightsOathPublicLaw

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a lecture about the importance of the Rule of Law in governance.

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I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism.
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The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.
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Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
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The magnitude of this evil among us is so deeply felt, and so universally acknowledged, that no merit could be greater than that of devising a satisfactory remedy for it.
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