Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

The tumults in America I expected would have produced in Europe an unfavorable opinion of our political state. But it has not. On the contrary, the small effect of these tumults seems to have given more confidence in the firmness of our governments. The interposition of the people themselves on the side of government has had a great effect on the opinion here in Europe.

Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils of misgovernment.

War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.

They are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property, and lives of their people.

[O]ur rules can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God.

Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.