Quotes from the Brethren
Quotes from the Founders
James Madison–
The members of the legislative department…are numerous. They are distributed and dwell among the people at large. Their connections of blood, of friendship, and of acquaintance embrace a great proportion of the most influential part of the society…they are more immediately the confidential guardians of their rights and liberties.
(Madison, James Federalist No. 50, February 5, 1788)
Thomas Jefferson–
It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please…. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It [the Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect. (Jefferson, Thomas Opinion on a National Bank, February 15, 1791)
James Madison–
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions. (Madison, James letter to Edmund Pendleton, January 21, 1792)
Speeches and Other Resources
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