The man who loves his country on its own account, and not merely for its trappings of interest or power, can never be divorced for it, can never refuse to come forward when he finds that she is engaged in dangers which he has the means of warding off.

ONLY a government that is AFRAID of its citizens tries to control them.

The first object of human association [is] the full improvement of their condition.

I apprehend... that the total abandonment of the principle of rotation in the offices of President and Senator will end in abuse.

No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity

When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.

Convinced that the republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind, my prayers & efforts shall be cordially distributed to the support of that we have so happily established. It is indeed an animating thought that, while we are securing the rights of ourselves & our posterity, we are pointing out the way to struggling nations who wish, like us, to emerge from their tyrannies also. Heaven help their struggles, and lead them, as it has done us, triumphantly thro' them.