Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one.

As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed.

Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.

The preservation of a free government requires not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably maintained; but more especially that neither of them be suffered to overleap the great Barrier which defends the rights of the people. The Rulers who are guilty of such an encroachment, exceed the commission from which they derive their authority and are Tyrants. The people who submit to it are governed by laws made neither by themselves nor by an authority derived from them, and are slaves.

The settled opinion here is that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Govt. and exempt from its cognizance; that a connection between them is injurious to both.

A certain degree of preparation for war . . . affords also the best security for the continuance of peace.