There are two amendments only which I am anxious for: 1. A bill of rights, which it is so much the interest of all to have that I conceive it must be yielded...2. The restoring of the principle of necessary rotation, particularly to the Senate and Presidency, but most of all to the last.

If I am to meet with a disappointment, the sooner I know it, the more of life I shall have to wear it off.

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.

While the farmer holds the title to the land, actually, it belongs to all the people because civilization itself rests upon the soil.

To take a single step beyond the boundaries specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible to definition.

History teaches the young the virtues of freedom. By apprising them of the past it will enable them to judge the future.

My most earnest wish is to see the republican element of popular control pushed to the maximum of its practicable exercise. I shall then believe that our government may be pure and perpetual.