The civil jury is a valuable safeguard to liberty.
Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.
Hence, in a state of nature, no man had any moral power to deprive another of his life, limbs, property, or liberty; nor the least authority to command or exact obedience from him, except that which arose from the ties of consanguinity.
No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave.
I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man.
A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.
Hard words are very rarely useful. Real firmness is good for every thing. Strut is good for nothing.
When the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation.
There is no position which depends on clearer principles than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.
Opinion, whether well or ill-founded, is the governing principle of human affairs.
Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state.
When you assemble from your several counties in the Legislature, were every member to be guided only by the apparent interest of his county, government would be impracticable. There must be a perpetual accomodation and sacrifice of local advantage to general expediency.
While the constitution continues to be read, and its principles known, the states, must, by every rational man, be considered as essential component parts of the union; and therefore the idea of sacrificing the former to the latter is totally inadmissible.
If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government.
A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
I will venture to assert that no combination of designing men under heaven will be capable of making a government unpopular which is in its principles a wise and good one, and vigorous in its operations.
It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the state governments will in all possible contingencies afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority.
A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever may be its theory, must be, in practice, a bad government.
Let experience, the least fallible guide of human opinion, be appealed to for an answer to these inquiries.