Alexander Hamilton quotes - page 4

The mode of appointment of the Chief Magistrate of the United States is almost the only part of the system, of any consequence, which has escaped without severe censure, or which has received the slightest mark of approbation from its opponents. The most plausible of these, who has appeared in print, has even deigned to admit that the election of the President is pretty well guarded.1 I venture somewhat further, and hesitate not to affirm, that if the manner of it be not perfect, it is at least excellent. It unites in an eminent degree all the advantages, the union of which was to be wished for. (Alexander Hamilton)
If then the Courts of justice are to be considered as the bulwarks of a limited Constitution, against Legislative encroachments, this consideration will afford a strong argument for the permanent tenure of Judicial offices, since nothing will contribute so much as this to that independent spirit in the Judges, which must be essential to the faithful performance of so arduous a duty. This independence of the Judges is equally requisite to guard the Constitution and the rights of individuals, from the effects of those ill humors, which the arts of designing men, or the influence of particular conjunctures, sometimes disseminate among the People themselves, and which, though they speedily give place to better information, and more deliberate reflection, have a tendency, in the mean time, to occasion dangerous innovations in the Government, and serious oppressions of the minor party in the community. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. Those who mean to form a solid republican government, ought to proceed to the confinges of another government. As long as offices are open to all men, and no constitutional rank is established, it is pure republicanism. But if we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
If there be anything in a remark often to be met with, namely that there is, in the genius of the people of this country, a peculiar aptitude for mechanic improvements, it would operate as a forcible reason for giving opportunities to the exercise of that species of talent, by the propagation of manufactures. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
The creation of crimes after the commission of the fact, or, in other words, the subjecting of men to punishment for things which, when they were done, were breaches of no law, and the practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
An avaricious man might be tempted to betray the interests of the State to the acquisition of wealth. An ambitious man might make his own aggrandizement, by the aid of a foreign power, the price of his treachery to his constituents. The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue, which would make it wise in a Nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind, as those which concern its intercourse with the rest of the world, to the sole disposal of a Magistrate created and circumstanced as would be a President of the United States. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
I think the first duty of society is justice. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
Power over a man's subsistence is power over his will. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
The loss of liberty to a generous mind is worse than death. (Alexander Hamilton)
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
Ambition without principle never was long under the guidance of good sense. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
As riches increase and accumulate in few hands . . . the tendency of things will be to depart from the republican standard. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
The honor of a nation is its life. Deliberately to abandon it is to commit an act of political suicide. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
[H]owever weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
It is the Press which has corrupted our political morals - and it is to the Press we must look for the means of our political regeneration. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
The love for our native land strengthens our individual and national character. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge right or make good decision. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
Ah, this is the constitution, he said. Now, mark my words. So long as we are a young and virtuous people, this instument will bind us together in mutual interests, mutual welfare, and mutual happiness. But when we become old and corrupt, it will bind no longer. (Alexander Hamilton)
Nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
Divide et impera must be the motto of every nation that either hates or fears us. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. View quote
Alexander Hamilton
Every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government. View quote
Alexander Hamilton