I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence and in that of Heaven to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station to which I have been called.
Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation.
The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.
If there have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy were a government competent to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled.
The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived.
In what light soever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue.
The will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth.
Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations.
The manners of women are the surest criterion by which to determine whether a republican government is practicable in a nation or not.
The Sermon on the Mount commands me to lay up for myself treasures, not upon earth, but in Heaven. My hopes of a future life are all founded upon the Gospel of Christ.
This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe, For Freedom only deals the deadly blow; Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade, For gentle peace in Freedom’s hallowed shade.
The Bible contains the revelation of the will of God. It contains the history of the creation of the world, and of mankind.
The declaration that our People are hostile to a government made by themselves, for themselves, and conducted by themselves, is an insult.
Not stones, nor wood, nor the art of artisans make a state; but where men are who know how to take care of themselves, these are cities and walls.
Westward the star of empire takes its way.
Every temptation is an opportunity of our getting nearer to God.
I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong.
I want a warm and faithful friend, To cheer the adverse hour; Who ne’er to flatter will descend, Nor bend the knee to power,- A friend to chide me when I’m wrong, My inmost soul to see; And that my friendship prove as strong For him as his for me.
Those who take oaths to politically powerful secret societies cannot be depended on for loyalty to a democratic republic.
The public history of all countries, and all ages, is but a sort of mask, richly colored. The interior working of the machinery must be foul.