James Madison

“The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.”

“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.”

“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.”

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

“A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.”

“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.”

“What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?”

“It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”

“A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.”

“To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.”