There can be no time, no state of things, in which Credit is not essential to a Nation...
A habit of labor in the people is as essential to the health and rigor of their minds and bodies as it is conducive to the welfare of the state.
The power of creating new funds upon new objects of taxation, by its own authority, would enable the national government to borrow as far as its necessities might require.
The changes in the human condition are uncertain and frequent. Many, on whom fortune has bestowed her favours, may trace their family to a more unprosperous station; and many who are now in obscurity, may look back upon the affluence and exalted rank of their ancestors.
If the end be clearly comprehended within any of the specified powers, and if the measure have an obvious relation to that end, and is not forbidden by any particular provision of the Constitution, it may safely be deemed to come within the compass of the national authority.
Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but it is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society.
The deliberative sense of the community should govern.
The love for our native land strengthens our individual and national character.
The system is the best that the present views and circumstances of the country will permit.
Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature.
What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws.
In this distribution of powers the wisdom of our constitution is manifested. It is the province and duty of the Executive to preserve to the Nation the blessings of peace. The Legislature alone can interrupt those blessings, by placing the Nation in a state of War.
Man is either governed by his own laws – freedom – or the laws of another – slavery. Are you willing to become slaves? Will you give up your freedom, your life and your property without a single struggle? No man has a right to rule over his fellow creatures.
The Courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise will instead of judgement; the consequences would be the substitution of their pleasure for that of the legislative body.
I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.
In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend.
Responsibility, in order to be reasonable, must be limited to objects within the power of the responsible party, and in order to be effectual, must relate to operations of that power, of which a ready and proper judgment can be formed by the constituents.
It is far more rational to suppose that the courts were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and the legislature, in order, among other things, to keep the latter within the limits assigned to their authority.
The attributes of sovereignty are now enjoyed by every state in the Union.
A treaty cannot be made which alters the Constitution of the country, or which infringes and express exceptions to the power of the Constitution.