James Madison on the Fall of the United States of America

James Madison was a brilliant political mind. After one session of congress some friends encouraged him to write an anonymous pamphlet about the things under consideration, which he did. It's amazing to watch him think through the complex issues of his day. And there's one key paragraph.

This is from 'Political Observations' by James Madison 20 April 1795.

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

Those truths are well established. They are read in every page which records the progression from a less arbitrary to a more arbitrary government, or the transition from a popular government to an aristocracy or a monarchy."

That's worth reading twice. Many people have noticed that the United States is on a downward trajectory, and it's because the United States is doing all of the things in that paragraph Madison warned against so long ago.

He also notes the importance of the separation of powers in the U. S. Constitution. Notice these are also violated in the United States.

"The separation of the power of declaring war, from that of conducting it, is wisely contrived, to exclude the danger of its being declared for the sake of its being conducted.

The separation of the power of raising armies, from the power of commanding them, is intended to prevent the raising of armies for the sake of commanding them.

The separation of the power of creating offices, from that of filling them, is an essential guard against the temptation to create offices, for the sake of gratifying favorites, or multiplying dependants."

I'm not sure how many people can actually do what Madison states as an important piece of good governance in the following paragraph.

"The people of the United States would not merit the praise universally allowed to their intelligence, if they did not distinguish between the respect due to the man, and the functions belonging to the office. In expressing the former, there is no limit or guide, but the feelings of their grateful hearts. In deciding the latter, they will consult the constitution; they will consider human nature, and, looking beyond the character of the existing magistrate, fix their eyes on the precedent which must descend to his successors."

Here's a quick list of the first 194 US wars and conflicts. Consider if the US might have the problems Madison talks about that originate from continual wars: armies, debts, taxes, consolidated power, corrupt political appointments, seduced minds of the people, subdued force of the people, fraud, degenerate manners and morals, and less freedom.

American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) | Cherokee–American wars (1776–1795) | Moroccan seizure of the Betsey (1784) | Northwest Indian War (1785–1793) | American–Algerian War (1785–1795) | Quasi-War (1798–1800) | War of the South (1799–1800) | First Barbary War (1801–1805) | Chesapeake–Leopard affair (1807) | Tecumseh's War (1810–1813) | U.S. Annexation of the Republic of West Florida (1810) | Little Belt affair (1811) | Battle of Woody Point (1811) | Patriot War (Florida) (1812–1814) | War of 1812 (1812–1815) | Creek War (1813–1814) | Nuku Hiva Campaign (1813–1814) | West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States (1814–1825) | Second Barbary War (1815) | U.S. Conquest of the Republic of the Floridas during the Amelia Island Affair (1817) | First Seminole War (1817–1818) | Callao affair (1820) | Arikara War (1823) | Aegean Sea anti-piracy operations of the United States (1825–1828) | Winnebago War (1827) | Falklands Expedition (1831–1832) | First Sumatran Expedition (1832) | Black Hawk War (1832) | Second Seminole War (1835–1842) | Texas Comanche Wars (1836–1875) | Patriot War (1838) | Second Sumatran Expedition (1838) | Punitive expeditions of the 1840 Fiji expedition (1840) | Bombardment of Upolu (1841) | Battle of Drummond's Island (1841) | Ivory Coast Expedition (1842) | Capture of Monterey (1842) | USS Congress incident (1844) | Mexican–American War (1846–1848) | Cayuse War (1847–1855) | Apache Wars (1849–1924) | Navajo Wars (1849–1866) | California Indian Wars (1850–1887) | Johanna Expedition (1851) | Sitgreaves Expedition (1851) | Battle of Muddy Flat (1854) | First Sioux War (1854–1856) | Bleeding Kansas (1854–1861) | Bombardment of Greytown (1854) | USS Water Witch incident (1855) | Battle of Ty-ho Bay (1855) | 1855 Fiji expedition (1855) | Rogue River Wars (1855–1856) | Puget Sound War (1855–1856) | Third Seminole War (1855–1858) | Yakima War (1855–1858) | Second Opium War (1856–1860) | Utah War (1857–1858) | Second Attempt by William Walker to Invade Nicaragua (1857) | Reform War (1857–1861) | 1858 Fiji expedition (1858) | Mohave War (1858–1859) | Pig War (1859) | John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry (1859) | First and Second Cortina War (1859–1861) | Paiute War (1860) | American Civil War (1861–1865) | Bombardment of Qui Nhơn (1861) | Yavapai Wars (1861–1875) | Dakota War of 1862 (1862) | 1st Battle of Shimonoseki Straits and the following Shimonoseki campaign (1863–1864) | Colorado War (1863–1865) | Snake War (1864–1868) | Hualapai War (1865–1870) | Powder River War (1865) | Fenian raids (1866–1871) | Red Cloud's War (1866–1868) | Formosa Expedition (1867) | Comanche Campaign (1867–1875) | Battle of Boca Teacapan (1870) | United States expedition to Korea (1871) | Modoc War (1872–1873) | Red River War (1874–1875) | Liberian–Grebo War (1875–1876) | Las Cuevas War (1875) | Great Sioux War of 1876 (1876–1877) | Buffalo Hunters' War (1876–1877) | Nez Perce War (1877) | Bannock War (1878) | Cheyenne War (1878–1879) | Sheepeater Indian War (1879) | Victorio's War (1879–1880) | White River War (1879) | Egyptian Expedition (1882) | Burning of Colón (1885) | Crow War (1887) | Ghost Dance War (1890–1891) | Garza War (1891–1893) | Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom (1893) | Rio de Janeiro Affair (1894) | Yaqui Wars (1896–1918) | Second Samoan Civil War (1898–1899) | Spanish–American War (1898) | Philippine–American War (1899–1902) | Moro Rebellion (1899–1913) | Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) | Crazy Snake's War (1909) | Mexican Border War (1910–1919) | Little Race War (1912) | United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933) | Bluff War (1914–1915) | United States occupation of Veracruz (1914) | United States occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) | United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924) | World War I (1914–1918, direct U.S. involvement in 1917–1918) | Russian Civil War (1917–1922, direct U.S. involvement in 1918–1920) | Turkish War of Independence (U.S. involvement) (1919–1922) | Posey War (1923) | World War II (1939–1945, direct U.S. involvement in 1941–1945) | Operation Beleaguer (1945–1949) | Greek Civil War (1946–1949) | Jeju uprising (U.S. involvement) (1948–1949) | Berlin Blockade (1948–1949) | Operation Valuable (1949–1956) | Puerto Rican Nationalist Party insurgency (1950–1954) | Korean War (1950–1953) | Air battle over Merklín (1953) | First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955) | Vietnam War (1955–1964, 1965–1973, 1974–1975) | Permesta Rebellion (1958–1961) | Lebanon crisis (1958) | Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958) | Tibetan uprising (1959) | Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) | Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996) | Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) | Berlin Crisis (1961) | Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) | Operation Dragon Rouge (1964) | Dominican Civil War (1965–1966) | Korean DMZ Conflict (1966–1969) | Ñancahuazú Guerrilla Campaign (1966–1967) | Cambodian Civil War (1967–1975) | US involvement in Angolan Civil War (1975–2002) | Contra War (1979–1990) | Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992) | Operation Cyclone (1979–1992) | Operation Eagle Claw (1980) | Gulf of Sidra incident (1981) | Multinational intervention in Lebanon (1982–1984) | United States invasion of Grenada (1983) | Operation Prairie Fire (1986) | Bombing of Libya (1986) | Tanker War (1987–1988) | Operation Golden Pheasant (1988) | Air battle near Tobruk (1989) | United States invasion of Panama (1989–1990) | Gulf War (1990–1991) | Iraqi No-Fly Zone Enforcement Operations (1991–2003) | First U.S. Intervention in the Somali Civil War (1992–1995) | NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) | Intervention in Haiti (1994–1995) | Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1995–1996) | Monrovia clashes (1998) | Operation Infinite Reach (1998) | NATO intervention in Kosovo War (1999) | War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) | US intervention in Yemen (2002–present) | Operation Freedom Eagle (2002–2017) | Iraq War (2003–2011) | US intervention in the Iraqi Kurdistan conflict (2003) | US intervention in the War in North-West Pakistan (2004–2018) | Second US Intervention in the Somali Civil War (2007–present) | NATO Operation Ocean Shield (2009–2016) | International intervention in Libya (2011) | Operation Observant Compass (2011–2017) | Benghazi attack and subsequent US raids in Libya (2012, 2014, 2017) | US military intervention in Niger (2013–2024) | US Capture of the MV Morning Glory (2014) | US-led intervention in Iraq (2014–2021) | US intervention in Syria (2014–present) | US intervention in Saudi Arabian–led operations in Yemen (2015–2021) | US intervention in Libya (2015–2019) | US–Iran naval incident (2016) | SEAL Team Six operation in North Korea (2019) | Nigeria hostage rescue (2020) | Russian invasion of Ukraine (U.S. involvement) (2022–present) | Operation Prosperity Guardian (2023–2025) | Gaza war (U.S. involvement) (2024–present) | Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2024–present) | Iran–Israel war (2025) | Operation Southern Spear (2025–present) | US Embassy Shooting in Haiti (2025) | US strikes in Nigeria (2025)

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