James Madison

The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.
James Madison

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

All men having power ought to be mistrusted.
James Madison

Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
James Madison

As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.
James Madison

The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy.
James Madison

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

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
James Madison

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

The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.
James Madison

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.
James Madison

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.
James Madison