James Madison

“ It is still, however, true, that war contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is to be hoped from the progress of reason; ”

“ As wars of the first class were to be prevented by subjecting the will of the government to the will of the society, those of the second can only be controlled by subjecting the will of the society to the reason of the society ”

“ Among the various reforms which have been offered to the world, the projects for universal peace have done the greatest honor to the hearts, though they seem to have done very little to the heads, of their authors. ”

“ To the objection, if started, that where the benefits of war descend to succeeding generations, the burdens ought also to descend, he might have answered, that the exceptions could not be easily made; that, if attempted, they must be made by one only of the parties interested; that in the alternative of sacrificing exceptions to general rules, or of converting exceptions into general rules, the former is the lesser evil; that the expense of necessary wars will never exceed the resources of an entire generation ”

“ And to give the fullest energy to his plan, he might have added, that each generation should not only bear its own burdens, but that the taxes composing them should include a due proportion of such as by their direct operation keep the people awake, along with those which, being wrapped up in other payments, may leave them asleep, to misapplications of their money. ”

“ Were a nation to impose such restraints on itself, avarice would be sure to calculate the expenses of ambition; in the equipoise of these passions, reason would be free to decide for the public good, and an ample reward would accrue to the State—first, from the avoidance of all its wars of folly ”