The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had give them. The constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberation, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men.

If our country, when pressed with wrongs at the point of the bayonet, had been governed by its heads instead of its hearts, where should we have been now? Hanging on a gallows as high as Haman's.

Laws abridging the natural right of the citizen should be restrained by rigorous constructions within their narrowest limits.

Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves.

The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.

Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on. The small landowners are the most precious part of a state

I pledge undying hostility to any government restrictions on the free minds of the people.