Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree (for all forbid us to steal, murder, plunder, or bear false witness), and that we should not intermeddle with the particular dogmas in which all religions differ, and which are totally unconnected with morality.

The several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government

The interests of the States... ought to be made joint in every possible instance in order to cultivate the idea of our being one nation, and to multiply the instances in which the people shall look up to Congress as their head.

I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of man.

If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.

Never use one word when two will do.