The question whether the judges are invested with exclusive authority to decide on the constitutionality of a law has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the exercise of official duties. Certainly there is not a word in the Constitution which has given that power to them more than to the Executive or Legislative branches.

To instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests and duties, as men and citizens...this brings us to the point at which are to commence the higher branches of education . . . . To develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instill into them the precepts of virtue and order.

[A] spirit of justice and friendly accomodation...is our duty and our interest to cultivate with all nations.

People generally have more feeling for canals and roads than education. However, I hope we can advance them with equal pace.

Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions.

The cutting of heads is become so much a la mode, that one is apt to feel of a morning whether their own is on their shoulders.

I believe in good luck, and the harder I work and the more I believe in myself, the luckier I get.