The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.
Politicians
James Madison
Fourth U.S. president (1751-1836), known as the "Father of the Constitution" and the "Father of the Bill of Rights." He drafted the Virginia Plan that framed the 1787 Convention, co-authored The Federalist Papers (writing 29 of the 85 essays, including the canonical Nos. 10 and 51), and supplied the working theory of separation of powers that still organizes constitutional argument worldwide. As Jefferson's secretary of state he was the named defendant in Marbury v. Madison. As president he led the country into the War of 1812 and was forced to flee Washington as British troops burned the Capitol and the White House. He owned more than a hundred enslaved people across his lifetime and freed none in his will.
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James Madison's Other Quotes
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.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.
Related Quotes
I shall be an autocrat - that is my trade; and the good Lord shall forgive me - that is His.
-- Catherine II of Russia
Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
-- George Washington
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.
-- James Madison
The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.
-- James Madison