the qualifications for self-government in society are not innate. they are the result of habit and long training.

An hereditary aristocracy... will change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the world.

I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts.

The principles on which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we but obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they called for. It issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom which alone can ensure to man the enjoyment of his equal rights.

Trial by jury is part of the bright constellation which leads to peace, liberty and safety.

Government is being founded on opinion, the opinion of the public, even when it is wrong, ought to be respected to a certain degree.

Yet the hour of emancipation is advancing ... this enterprise is for the young; for those who can follow it up, and bear it through to it's consummation. It shall have all my prayers, and these are the only weapons of an old man.