Thursday, June 16, 2022

James Madison "property in rights"

         I quote James Madison, the proverbial Father of the Constitution:

    "In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

        Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions. 

        Where there is an excess of liberty, the effect is the same, tho’ from an opposite cause.

        Government is instituted to protect property of every sort, as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own.

“Property” James Madison Essays for the National Gazette 1791- 1792, 27 March 1792

 

 


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