I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.

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.

The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven; and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We...solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of a right ought to be free and independent states...and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel, if there had never been a priest. The artificial structures they have built on the purest of all moral systems, for the purpose of deriving from it pence and power, revolts those who think for themselves, and who read in that system only what is really there.

I do verily believe that a single, consolidated government would become the most corrupt government on the earth.

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.