WIST Quotations

Madison, James -- Speech Introducing Proposed Constitutional Amendments (1789-06-08)

Dave — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 21:37:02 +0000

The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions, or remonstrances, for redress of their grievances.

James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
Speech Introducing Proposed Constitutional Amendments (1789-06-08)
(Source)

Speech before the House of Representatives, proposing a Bill of Rights amending the US Constitution. This was the first draft of the text that would go on to become the First Amendment.

Black, Hugo -- James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)

Dave — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 18:01:39 +0000

The First Amendment is truly the heart of the Bill of Rights. The Framers balanced its freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition against the needs of a powerful central government, and decided that in those freedoms lies this nation’s only true security. They were not afraid for men to be free. We should not be.

Hugo Black (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)
James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)
(Source)

The inaugural Madison lecture. Reprinted as "The Bill of Rights," NYU Law Review, Vol. 35 (1960-04).

Black, Hugo -- James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)

Dave — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 16:21:31 +0000

Unfortunately, our own colonial history also provided ample reasons for people to be afraid to vest too much power in the national government. There had been bills of attainder here; women had been convicted and sentenced to death as “witches”; Quakers, Baptists, and various Protestant sects had been persecuted from time to time. Roger Williams left Massachusetts to breathe the free air of new Rhode Island. Catholics were barred from holding office in many places. Test oaths were required in some of the colonies to bar any but “Christians” from holding office. In New England Quakers suffered death for their faith. Baptists were sent to jail in Virginia for preaching, which caused Madison, while a very young man, to deplore what he called that “diabolical hell-conceived principle of persecution.”

Carlin, George -- Show (2008-03-01), It’s Bad for Ya, Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California (HBO)

Dave — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 21:08:01 +0000

Folks, I hate to spoil your fun, but — there’s no such thing as rights. Okay? They’re imaginary. We made ’em up. […] Now, if you think you do have rights, one last assignment for you. Next time you’re at the computer, get on the Internet, go to Wikipedia. When you get to Wikipedia, in the search field for Wikipedia I want you to type in “Japanese-American 1942,” and you’ll find all about your precious fucking rights, okay? […] Just when these American citizens needed their rights the most, their government took ’em away. And rights aren’t “rights” if someone can take ’em away — they’re privileges. That’s all we’ve ever had in this country is a Bill of Temporary Privileges. And if you read the news, even badly, you know that every year the list gets shorter and shorter and shorter.

George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Show (2008-03-01), It’s Bad for Ya, Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California (HBO)
(Source)

Commager, Henry Steele -- Letter (1971-06-17) to the Editor, New York Times

Dave — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 15:27:20 +0000

The Bill of Rights was not written into the Constitution in order to protect governments from “trouble,” but so that the people might have a legitimate method of causing trouble to governments they no longer trusted.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Letter (1971-06-17) to the Editor, New York Times
(Source)

In reply to the criticism by Secretary of State William Rogers that publication of the Pentagon Papers by the New York Times "is going to cause a great deal of trouble."

Mencken, H. L. -- “On Government,” Prejudices: Fourth Series (1924)

Dave — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 16:01:41 +0000

The Bill of Rights was designed trustfully to prohibit forever two of the favorite crimes of all known governments: the seizure of private property without adequate compensation and the invasion of the citizen’s liberty without justifiable cause and due process.

H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“On Government,” Prejudices: Fourth Series (1924)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1787-12-20) to James Madison

Dave — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 13:37:30 +0000

A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1787-12-20) to James Madison
(Source)

Black, Hugo -- James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)

Dave — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:20:54 +0000

It is my belief that there are “absolutes” in our Bill of Rights, and that they were put there on purpose by men who knew what the words meant and meant their prohibitions to be “absolutes.”

Jefferson, Thomas -- Document (1822-10-07), Report by the Board of Visitors to the President and Directors of the Literary fund, University of Virginia

Dave — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:02:42 +0000

The constitutional freedom of religion [is] the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Document (1822-10-07), Report by the Board of Visitors to the President and Directors of the Literary fund, University of Virginia
(Source)

Jackson, Robert H. -- Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 26-27 (1947) [dissent]

Dave — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:35:13 +0000

The effect of the religious freedom Amendment to our Constitution was to take every form of propagation of religion out of the realm of things which could directly or indirectly be made public business, and thereby be supported in whole or in part at taxpayers’ expense. That is a difference which the Constitution sets up between religion and almost every other subject matter of legislation, a difference which goes to the very root of religious freedom and which the Court is overlooking today. This freedom was first in the Bill of Rights because it was first in the forefathers’ minds; it was set forth in absolute terms, and its strength is its rigidity. It was intended not only to keep the states’ hands out of religion, but to keep religion’s hands off the state, and, above all, to keep bitter religious controversy out of public life by denying to every denomination any advantage from getting control of public policy or the public purse.

Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 26-27 (1947) [dissent]
(Source)

Black, Hugo -- James Madison Lecture, NYU School of Law (1960-02-17)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The Framers knew, better perhaps than we do today, the risks they were taking. They knew that free speech might be the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny. With this knowledge they still believed that the ultimate happiness and security of a nation lies in its ability to explore, to change, to grow and ceaselessly to adapt itself to new knowledge born of inquiry free from any kind of governmental control over the mind and spirit of man. Loyalty comes from love of good government, not fear of a bad one.