There is no position which depends on clearer principles than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.

Common interest may always be reckoned upon as the surest bond of sympathy.

There are seasons in every country when noise and impudence pass current for worth; and in popular commotions especially, the clamors of interested and factious men are often mistaken for patriotism.

The practice of arbitrary imprisonments have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.

The Christian Constitutional Society, its object is first: The support of the Christian religion. Second: The support of the United States.

This [a state militia system] appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.