Irresponsible power is inconsistent with liberty, and must corrupt those who exercise it.

A revolution in itself is not a blessing.

If we do not defend ourselves none will defend us; if we yield we will be more and more pressed as we recede; and if we submit we will be trampled under foot. I hold concession or compromise to be fatal. If we concede an inch, concession would follow compromise, until our ranks would be so broken that effectual resistance would be impossible.

Stripped of all its covering, the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or consolidated government; a constitutional or absolute one; a government resting solidly on the basis of the sovereignty of the States, or on the unrestrained will of a majority; a form of government, as in all other unlimited ones, in which injustice, violence, and force must ultimately prevail.

The surrender of life is nothing to sinking down into acknowledgment of inferiority.

The object of a Constitution is to restrain the Government, as that of laws is to restrain individuals.

It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty.