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A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.

James Madison

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James Madison
Age: 85 †
Born: 1751
Born: March 16
Died: 1836
Died: June 28
4Th U.S. President
Diplomat
Lawyer
Philosopher
Politician
Slaveholder
Statesperson
Writer
Port Conway
Virginia
James Madison
Jr.
President Madison
J. Madison
Madison
Country
Arms
People
Liberty
Free
Regulated
Natural
Militia
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Composed
Best
Trained
Wells
Defense
Well
Conservative

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The better proof of reverence for that holy name would be not to profane it by making it a topic of legislative discussion.
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Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the constitution of a senate, is the additional impediment it must prove against improper acts of legislation. No law or resolution can now be passed without the concurrence first of a majority of the people, and then of a majority of the states.
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No power over the freedom of religion [is] delegated to the United States by the Constitution.
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Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.
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It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune. This necessity however exists and the problem to be solved is, not what form of Government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect.
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To provide employment for the poor, and support for the indigent, is among the primary, and, at the same time, not least difficult cares of the public authority.
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If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare... they may appoint teachers in every state... The powers of Congress would subvert the very foundation, the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America.
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A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.
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What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
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The internal effects of a mutable policy are still more calamitous. It poisons the blessings of liberty itself.
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The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government.
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Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.
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[The public has] the habit now of invalidating opinions emanating from me by reference to my age and infirmities.
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There is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by...corporations. The power of all corporations ought to be limited in this respect. The growing wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses.
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I hope this will find you...enjoying the commencement of a new year with every prospect that can make it a happy one.
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In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the disease incident to republican government.
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How a regulation so unjust in itself, so foreign to the authority of Congress, and so hurtful to the sale of public land, and smelling so strongly of an antiquated bigotry, could have received the countenance of a committee is truly a matter of astonishment.
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[Christianity] existed and flourishes, not only without the support of human laws, but in spite of every opposition from them.
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If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy of the favorable regard of the Holy and Omniscient Being to Whom it is addressed, it must be that in which those who join in it are guided only be their free choice-by the impulse of their hearts and the dictates of their consciences.
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As to the permanent interest of individuals in the aggregated interests of the community, and in the proverbial maxim, that honesty is the best policy, present temptation is often found to be an overmatch for those considerations.
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