The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.

Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

In no instance have... the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.

Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.

Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.

War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.

As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights.

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.

Whenever a youth is ascertained to possess talents meriting an education which his parents cannot afford, he should be carried forward at the public expense.

The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed.

We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.

A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.

Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.