The number of individuals employed under the Constitution of the United States, will be much smaller, than the number employed under the particular States.
James Madison in Federalist No. 45
Category: American Affairs
On the perils of a veto by a small minority
… they have reported a plan which … may be carried into effect by nine states only. … The forbearance can only have proceeded from an irresistible conviction of the absurdity of subjecting the fate of 12 States, to the perverseness or corruption of a thirteenth; from the example of inflexible opposition given by a majority of 1-60th of America, to a measure approved and called for by the voice of twelve States comprising 59-60ths of the people …
(Rhode Island had refused to send delegates to the Federal Convention.)
James Madison in Federalist No. 40
Guarding against injustices
It is of great importance in a republic, not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers; but to guard one part of society against the injustices of the other part. Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens.
James Madison in Federalist No. 51
Beware of the standing army
… the liberties of Rome proved the final victim to her military triumphs … A standing force therefore us a dangerous, at the same time that it may be a necessary provision. One the smallest scale, its has its inconveniences. On an extensive scale, its consequences may be fatal.
James Madison in Federalist No. 41
Two important conclusions
The first is, that the Convention must have enjoyed in a very singular degree, an exemption from the pestilential influence of party animosities, the diseases most incident to deliberative bodies, and most apt to contaminate their proceedings. The second conclusion is, that all of the deputations composing the Convention, were either satisfactorily accommodated by the final act; or were induced to accede to it, by a deep conviction of sacrificing private opinions and partial interests to the public good, and by a despair of seeing this necessity diminished by delays or by new experiments.
James Madison in Federalist No. 37
Diffusing the majority, protecting the minority
… in the federal republic of the United States … the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority.
James Madison in Federalist No. 51
The necessity of religious liberty
In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as for religious rights.
James Madison in Federalist No. 51
Who are they kidding?
I’m thinking of those ridiculous online ads that purport to be something about Maine but show us images of urban Arizona or maybe Miami, the furthest opposites to where I live yet purporting to be local for here. You know, most affordable housing or food delivery or the ten best restaurants or plumbers in Eastport. We don’t have nearly that many. Got it?
Many of them somehow zero in on tiny East Machias or, for our weather almanac, as St. John, New Brunswick, or Halifax, Nova Scotia. Do note that East Machias is not Eastport. They’re an hour apart.
There’s also the Microsoft ab that proclaims “Eastport light traffic,” which is truly baffling. There are only three or four traffic lights in the entire county, OK? Heavy traffic, apart from road construction, is usually three or four vehicles.
These are even worse than the late-night TV commercials that couldn’t come close to properly pronouncing where we lived in the Pacific Northwest.
People first
A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; second, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best obtained.
James Madison in Federalist No. 62
Being subjected to the laws they pass, too
The House of Representatives … can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny.
James Madison in Federalist No. 57
Jnana's Red Barn 