"

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be nece...more

"

Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be ...more

"

Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.

"

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

"

it was impossible to confine a Government to the exercise of express powers; there must necessarily be admitted powers by implication, unless the Cons...more

"

Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments the real power lies in the majority of the Communi...more

"

The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of governm...more

"

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

"

The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.

"

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments ar...more

"

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

"

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

"

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greate...more

"

Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no dou...more

"

In framing a government, which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty is this: You must first enable the government to control th...more