James MadisonThinkers

The 2nd Amendment is imagined as the individual's rights to bear arms and should be incorporated into the body of the constitution along with other personal rights rather than in article I which gave the government power of militias.

The 3rd Amendment is a property rights protection that in addition underscores the primacy of the rights of individual citizens over the power of the government.

The 3rd Amendment is about property rights, not about the actual quartering of troops, rather that it was 'done without the consent of the local authority, without the consent of America.

Ambition is so vigilant, and where it has a model always in view is so prompt in seizing its advantages, that it can not be too closely watched, or too vigorously checked.

The Consumption tax is always the least burdensome, because it is the least felt, and is borne by those who are both willing and able to pay.

Democracy is, when pure democracy, one of the worst forms of government since factions are sure to develop.

The Electoral college is a way for southern states to use the number of their slaves to increase their representation vis-a-vis the non-slave-owning north (hence the notion that the slave is worth 3/5 of a person).

The Electoral college is intended to increase the power of the more populous slave states vis-a-vis the non-slave owning north.

Religion is harmful in that religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.

A Republic is a government deriving its energy from the will of the society.

A Republic is a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.

Slavery is, as the mere distinction of color, the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man.