"... we should have such an empire for liberty as she [the world] has never surveyed since the creation; and I am persuaded no constitution was ever before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire and self-government." -- Jefferson to Madison, April 27, 1809

"The free systems of government we have established is so congenial with reason, with common sense, and with a universal feeling, that it must produce approbation and a desire of imitation. ... Our country, if it does justice to itself, will be the officina-Libertatio, to the Civilized World,and do more than any other for the uncivilized." -- Madison to De Ponceau, January 23, 1826

"Mr. Madison was the intimate, confidential, and devoted friend of Mr. Jefferson, and the mutual influence of these two mighty minds upon each other, is a phenomenon, like the invisible and mysterious movements of the magnet in the physical world, and in which the sagacity of the future historian may discover the solution of much of our national history not otherwise easily accountable." -- John Quincy Adams, The Jubilee of the Constitution, A Discourse, 1839