I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.
James MadisonRead
As compacts, charters of government are superior in obligation to all others, because they give effect to all others. As truths, none can be more sacred, because they are bound, on the conscience by the religious sanctions of an oath. As metes and bounds of government, they transcend all other land-marks, because every public usurpation is an encroachment on the private right, not of one, but of all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the supreme importance of governmental charters as both legal and moral obligations.
James Madison asserts that governmental charters are fundamentally superior because they manifest and uphold all other laws and principles. He highlights the sacredness of these agreements, as they are backed by the moral weight of an oath, emphasizing that any violation of these charters is not just a legal issue but an infringement on the collective rights of the public. Therefore, these charters serve as the essential framework of society, transcending all other regulations and serving as critical protections for individual rights.
Themes
GovernmentChartersRightsOathPublicLaw
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a lecture about the importance of the Rule of Law in governance.
More from James Madison
All quotes →No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time.
James MadisonRead
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations; but, on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism.
James MadisonRead
The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.
James MadisonRead
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
James MadisonRead
The magnitude of this evil among us is so deeply felt, and so universally acknowledged, that no merit could be greater than that of devising a satisfactory remedy for it.
James MadisonRead
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