One single object . . . [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation.

As government grows, freedom recedes.

The law of self-preservation is higher than written law.

The dead should not rule the living

It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan.

The best hemp and the best tobacco grow on the same kind of soil. The former article is of the first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country. The latter, never useful.

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.