I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.
James MadisonRead
Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the independence of each state in relation to the federal government under the Constitution.
James Madison articulates the idea that when states ratify the Constitution, they maintain their sovereignty, acting independently of one another. This perspective underscores the federal structure of government, wherein the Constitution serves as a voluntary agreement among the states rather than as an overarching national authority that encompasses them.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of state rights and independence in a federal system.
I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.
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. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time.
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.
The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
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.
The truth of Nature is a part of the truth of God; to him who does not search it out, darkness; to him who does, infinity.
Or hast thou known the world so long in vain?
We're all inseparably part of each other. We all coexist in each other.
There are times when even the most potent governor must wink at transgression, in order to preserve the laws inviolate for the future.
Let go of all ideas and images in your mind, they come and go and aren’t even generated by you. So why pay so much attention to your imagination when reality is for the realizing right now?
You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
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