It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty..

It would be well for those interested to reflect whether there now exists, or ever has existed, a wealthy and civilized community in which one portio….

The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit….

There never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the….

Learn from your mistakes and build on your successes..

Government has no right to control individual liberty beyond what is necessary to the safety and well-being of society. Such is the boundary which se….

Stripped of all its covering, the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or consolidated government; a constitutional or absolute one; a govern….

The Union next to our liberties the most dear. May we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the States, and distribu….

I never use the word nation in speaking of the United States. I always use the word Union or Confederacy. We are not a nation but a union, a confeder….

We are not a nation, but a union, a confederacy of equal and sovereign states..

A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interests, combined in one mass, a….

Government has within it a tendency to abuse its powers..

The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests; and when not effici….

The defence of human liberty against the aggressions of despotic power have been always the most efficient in States where domestic slavery was to pr….

The object of a Constitution is to restrain the Government, as that of laws is to restrain individuals..

The interval between the decay of the old and the formation and establishment of the new constitutes a period of transition which must always necessa….

In looking back, I see nothing to regret, and little to correct..

The error is in the assumption that the General Government is a party to the constitutional compact. The States ... formed the compact, acting as sov….

[The taxing power of the state] divides the community into two great classes: one consisting of those who, in reality, pay the taxes and, of course, ….

I take higher ground. I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other ph….

If we do not defend ourselves none will defend us; if we yield we will be more and more pressed as we recede; and if we submit we will be trampled un….