Foundational Documents

There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.

• Federalist No. 10

• Federalist No. 51

• Federalist No. 70

• Brutus No. 1

The judiciary, on the contrary, has no influence over either the sword or the purse; no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society; and can take no active resolution whatever.

• Federalist No. 10

• The Constitution

• Federalist No. 70

• Federalist No. 78

It might be here shewn, that the power in the federal legislative, to raise and support armies at pleasure, as well in peace as in war, and their controul over the militia, tend, not only to a consolidation of the government, but the destruction of liberty.

• Articles of Confederation

• Federalist No. 10

• Brutus No. 1

• Federalist No. 51

A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government.

• Federalist No. 51

• Federalist No. 70

• Federalist No. 78

• Federalist No. 10

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

• Federalist No. 10

• Brutus No. 1

• Letter from Birmingham Jail

• Federalist No. 51

Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other.

• Federalist No. 10

• Federalist No. 51

• Brutus No. 1

• Federalist No. 70

A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.

• The U.S. Constitution

• The Articles of Confederation

• Federalist No. 10

• Brutus No. 1

Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

• The U.S. Constitution

• The Articles of Confederation

• Brutus No. 1

• Federalist No. 10

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.

• Federalist No. 78

• Federalist No. 70

• Letter from Birmingham Jail

• Brutus No. 1

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

• The Articles of Confederation

• The U.S. Constitution

• Federalist No. 70

• Federalist No. 78