The electors see their representative not only as a legislator for the state but also as the natural protector of local interests in the legislature; indeed, they almost seem to think that he has a power of attorney to represent each constituent, and they trust him to be as eager in their private interests as in those of the country.

Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.

In the United States, if a political character attacks a sect, this may not prevent even the partisans of that very sect, from supporting him; but if he attacks all the sects together, every one abandons him and he remains alone.

Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions

It is above all in the present democratic age that the true friends of liberty and human grandeur must remain constantly vigilant and ready to prevent the social power from lightly sacrificing the particular rights of a few individuals to the general execution of its designs. In such times there is no citizen so obscure that it is not very dangerous to allow him to be oppressed, and there are no individual rights so unimportant that they can be sacrificed to arbitrariness with impunity.

Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust.

Society was cut in two: those who had nothing united in common envy; those who had anything united in common terror.