We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

....I am sure that the dangers of this system (the Federal Constitution) are real, when those who have no similar interest with the people of this country (the South) are to legislate for us - when our dearest rights are to be left, in the hands of those, whose advantage it will be to infringe them.

Hospitality invites to prayer before it checks credentials, welcomes to the table before administering the entrance exam.

This house protected by an armed citizen. There is absolutely nothing here worth dying for.

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.

I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Everything we do is to improve it, if it happens in our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendants, together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot and an abhorrence of slavery.

We should transmit to posterity our abhorrence of slavery.