Liberty ought to be the direct end of your government.

I look on that paper (the Constitution) as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people.

It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains.

O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone.

Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third — ['Treason!' cried the Speaker] — may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship.