The means ought to be proportioned to the end; the persons from whose agency the attainment of any end is expected ought to possess the means by which it is to be attained.

And it proves, in the last place, that liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments.

It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the state governments will in all possible contingencies afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority.

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.

The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.

There is a contagion in example which few men have sufficient force of mind to resist.

The great leading objects of the federal government, in which revenue is concerned, are to maintain domestic peace, and provide for the common defense.