We are attempting, by this Constitution, to abolish factions, and to unite all parties for the general welfare.

By a steady adherence to the Union we may hope, erelong, to become the arbiter of Europe in America, and to be able to incline the balance of European competitions in this part of the world as our interest may dictate.

There is one transcendant advantage belonging to the province of the State governments ... -I mean the ordinary administration of criminal and civil justice.

Self-preservation is the first principle of our nature.

Power over a man's subsistence is power over his will.

A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.

The loss of liberty to a generous mind is worse than death.

The inquiry constantly is what will please, not what will benefit the people. In such a government there can be nothing but temporary expedient, fickleness, and folly.

There is at this present juncture, a certain fermentation of mind, a certain activity of speculation and enterprise which if properly directed may be made subservient to useful purposes; but which if left entirely to itself, may be attended with pernicious effects.

The local interest of a State ought in every case to give way to the interests of the Union. For when a sacrifice of one or the other is necessary, the former becomes only an apparent, partial interest, and should yield, on the principle that the smaller good ought never to oppose the greater good.

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.

What bitter anguish would not the people of Athens have often escaped if their government had contained so provident a safeguard against tyranny of their own passions? Popular liberty might then have escaped the indelible reproach of decreeing to the same citizens the hemlock on one day and statutes the next.

The experience of past ages may inform us, that when the circumstances of a people render them distressed, their rulers generally recur to severe, cruel, and oppressive measures. Instead of endeavoring to establish their authority in the affection of their subjects, they think they have no security but in their fear.

The origin of all civil government, justly established, must be a voluntary compact, between the rulers and the ruled; and must be liable to such limitations, as are necessary for the security of the absolute rights of the latter; for what original title can any man or set of men have, to govern others, except their own consent?

If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.

War, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perserverance, by time, and by practice.

The powers contained in a constitution...ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.

Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.

CREDIT supposes specific and permanent funds for the punctual payment of interest, with a moral certainty of a final redemption of the principal.