A free, virtuous, and enlightened people must know full well the great principles and causes upon which their happiness depends.

The right of self-defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals.

I have great satisfaction in stating that our relations with France, Russia, and other powers continue on the most friendly basis.

[In a republic,] it is not the people themselves who make the decisions, but the people they themselves choose to stand in their places.

If it was wise, manly, and patriotic for us to establish a free government, it is equally wise to attend to the necessary means of its preservation.

The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil.

From several of the Indian tribes inhabiting the country bordering on Lake Erie purchases have been made of lands on conditions very favorable to the United States, and, as it is presumed, not less so to the tribes themselves.