An oath-the strongest of religious ties.

It would have marked a want of foresight in the convention, which our own experience would have rendered inexcusable.

No power over the freedom of religion [is] delegated to the United States by the Constitution.

Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.... Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

If men were angels, there would be no need of government.

But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm . . . But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.

Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.