Government is being founded on opinion, the opinion of the public, even when it is wrong, ought to be respected to a certain degree.

We have solved, by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries.

Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.

It will take a thousand years for the frontier to reach the Pacific

There is not a truth existing which I fear... or would wish unknown to the whole world.

I endeavor to keep their attention fixed on the main objects of all science, the freedom & happiness of man.

The sentiments of men are known not only by what they receive, but what they reject also.