Andrew Jackson Quotes

For the People, Despite the People

There is no power above people power.

As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the people.

The people want to exercise power but what on earth would they do with it if it were given to them?

We" are not the government; the government is not "us." The government does not in any accurate sense "represent" the majority of the people

All power lays in the people!

We are at a point where democracy—the idea and practice of people controlling their lives—is a revolutionary issue in the United States.

I trust the American People more than American Institutions.

The people made this government, and not the government the people. Destroy the intelligence of the people, and the government could not exist for a day; — destroy this government, and the people would create another, and yet another, of no less perfect symmetry.

The press is not only free, it is powerful. That power is ours. It is the proudest that man can enjoy. It was not granted by monarchs, it was not gained for us by aristocracies; but it sprang from the people, and, with an immortal instinct, it has always worked for the people.

Government is the creature of the people, and that which they have created they surely have a right to examine.

The people must come first. Where they do not, sooner or later, they will overthrow their governments.

The power of the people and the power of reason are one.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

When the three branches of government have failed to represent the citizenry and the mass of the media has failed to represent the citizenry, then the citizenry better represent the citizenry.

There is a power in public opinion in this country - and I thank God for it: for it is the most honest and best of all powers - which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hands the lives and fortunes of his fellow-citizens.

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

Democratic power is the only voice most citizens have.

Many Americans do not understand that the officers of the government are simply the servants of the people.

I personally believe that those who are leaders with political power over the world will be forced some day, sooner or later, to give way to common sense and the will of the people.

Rights are in the power of the people.

This is a country for, of, and by the people not for, of, and by the government. If we turn it over to them we cannot complain about what they're doing because this is a natural course of men and we have to hold their feet to the fire.

I acknowledged that I owed my presidency to People Power. I resolved during my presidency that I would in turn empower the people.

The Declaration of Independence says when government fails, the people have the right to replace it. Well, New York State government has failed and the people have the right, indeed the people have the the people have the obligation, to act.