It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people.

There are some men formed with feelings so blunt that they can hardly be said to be awake during the whole course of their lives.

My hold of the colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. These are ties which, though light as air, are as strong as links of iron.

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.

Those who attempt to level never equalize

I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of the people.

Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.