Tag Archives: Restraint

First Principles: Sovereign Power Tends To Be Hostile To Those Seeking Restraint Of Its Operations

“There is in the nature of sovereign power an impatience of control, that disposes those who are invested with the exercise of it, to look with an evil eye upon all external attempts to restrain or direct its operations.” – … Continue reading

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First Principles: A Government Should Be Constituted To Control Its Citizens But Also Itself

“In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.” – … Continue reading

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First Principles: The People Have A Right To Redress Governmental Excess

“If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people … must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done … Continue reading

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First Principles: Power Should Be Restrained From Encroaching

“It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.” –James Madison, Federalist No. 48, 1788        

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