“We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.”
“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.”
“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 proposed Constitution is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both.”
“Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.”
“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.”
“What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”