The Constitution and the laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble.

The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.

I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn't have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey.

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.

Be good children, and we shall all meet in Heaven. I want to meet you all, white and black, in Heaven. Our Federal Union! It must be preserved! [Toast at a celebration of Thomas Jefferson's birthday, April 13 1830]

Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of high importance.