My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!

I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power not longer susceptible of any definition.

We believe no more in Bonaparte's fighting merely for the liberties of the seas than in Great Britain's fighting for the liberties of mankind. The object is the same, to draw to themselves the power, the wealth and the resources of other nations.

If there be any among us who wish to dissolve the Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed, as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

The ocean ... like the air, is the common birth-right of mankind.

Though [the people] may acquiesce, they cannot approve what they do not understand.

While learning the language in France a young man's morals, health and fortune are more irresistibly endangered than in any country of the universe.