The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

The appointment of senators by the state legislatures . . . is recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select appointment, and of giving to the state governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government, as must secure the authority of the former.

Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.

[In a democracy] a common passion or interest will, in almost every case , be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert results from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual.

The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority.

The effect of a representative democracy is to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of the nation.

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.