Armed Americans - James Madison

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily

"Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess
over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of
subordinate governments, to which the people are attached and by
which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against
the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which
a simple government of any form can admit of."

-- James Madison (Federalist No. 46, 1 February 1788)

Reference: Madison, Federalist No. 46.

Possessing arms - Jefferson

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily

"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion
for them."

-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to George Washington, 19 June 1796)

Reference: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Library of Congress,
Mansucript Division, Microfilm Roll #51

Grecians and Romans - Liberty

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily

"The Grecians and Romans were strongly possessed of the spirit of
liberty but not the principle, for at the time they were determined
not to be slaves themselves, they employed their power to enslave
the rest of mankind."

-- Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 5, 21 March 1778)

Reference: Paine Writings, Foner, 169.

A Well-regulated Militia - Hamilton

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily

"If a well-regulated militia be the most natural defense of a free
country, it ought certainly to be under the regulation and at the
disposal of that body which is constituted the guardian of the
national security. If standing armies are dangerous to liberty,
an efficacious power over the militia in the same body ought,
as far as possible, to take away the inducement and the pretext
to such unfriendly institutions. If the federal government can
command the aid of the militia in those emergencies which call
for the military arm in support of the civil magistrate, it can
the better dispense with the employment of a different kind of
force. If it cannot avail itself of the former, it will be obliged
to recur to the latter. To render an army unnecessary will be a
more certain method of preventing its existence than a thousand
prohibitions upon paper."

-- Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 29, 10 January 1788)

Reference: Hamilton, Federalist No. 29.

Family Morality - John Adams

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily

"The foundation of national morality must be laid in private
families. . . . How is it possible that Children can have any
just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if,
from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in
habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as
constant Infidelity to their Mothers?"

-- John Adams (Diary, 2 June 1778)

Reference: The Works of John Adams, C.F. Adams, ed., vol. 3 (171)

Constitutional Requirement - President

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily

"If, for instance, the president is required to do any act, he is
not only authorized, but required, to decide for himself, whether,
consistently with his constitutional duties, he can do the act."

-- Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)

Reference: Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 124.

Hamilton on a National Bank

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily

"The tendency of a national bank is to increase public and private
credit. The former gives power to the state, for the protection
of its rights and interests: and the latter facilitates and
extends the operations of commerce among individuals. Industry
is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and
manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and
prosperity of a state."

-- Alexander Hamilton (Report on Manufactures, 1790)

Reference: The Works of Alexander Hamilton, Henry Cabot Lodge,
ed., 362.