....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.

You ought to be extremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty; for instead of securing your rights, you may lose them forever.

When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object.

United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.

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; and you have no longer an aristocratical, no longer a democratical spirit. Did you ever read of any revolution in a nation, brought about by the punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no power at all?

I am not a Virginian, I am an American.

If this be treason, make the most of it!