[FBD]

I received the following email today from the University of Virginia, who have an ongoing research project on the Papers of James Madison.

"...the project has collected more than 25,000 copies of documents related to Madison's life--including letters, essays, notes, diaries, account books, ledgers, wills, legal papers, and inventories."
http://www.virginia.edu/pjm/home.html

To:
jmadison@virginia.edu

Is this an accurate and verifiable quote, by James Madison?
It is displayed on numerous websites:
"We've staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future ...upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded."

Their response:

---

Re: "Checking the accuracy of a Madison quote displayed on many websites"
To: "FBD"
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005


Dear Mr. (FBD)

To our knowledge Madison never wrote these words. We've
never found anything remotely like this in our files and
the very idea is inconsistent with Madison's views on
religion and government, views which he expressed in
public and private throughout his life.

Best,

David #######

jmadison@virginia.edu

[Right Wing Professor]

Nice FResearch!

[lugsoul]

Sweet, FBD. Nice to get an official confirmation of what I already knew... I've seen Barton's dissembling trying to defend his use of the quote, and it was obvious he had no authority for the quote.