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Quote#Freedom

A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long…

Quote byJames Madison · 1751–1836

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech, Constitutional Convention (29 June 1787), from Max Farrand's Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. I (1911), p. 465.

English (original)

A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.

— James Madison

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