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.

In wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do

The liberty, prosperity, and the happiness of our country will always be the object of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of All Good.

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

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

The crime of ingratitude has not yet stained, and I trust never will stain, our national character. You are considered by them as not only having rendered important service in our own revolution, but as being, on a more extended scale, the friend of human rights, and able advocate of public liberty. To the welfare of Thomas Paine, the Americas are not, nor can they be, indifferent.

At no period of our political existence had we so much cause to felicitate ourselves at the prosperous and happy condition of our country.