A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.

Never suppose that in any possible situation or under any circumstances that it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing however slightly so it may appear to you... Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise ... and that exercise will make them habitual.

What is it men cannot be made to believe!

So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.

With respect to our State and federal governments, I do not think their relations correctly understood by foreigners. They generally suppose the former subordinate to the latter. But this is not the case. They are co-ordinate departments of one simple and integral whole.

The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies, where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state.

Without virtue, happiness cannot be.