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How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!

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Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

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‎We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, i...more

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The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.

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That government is best which governs the least because its people discipline themselves.

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The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction.

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Let us save what remains: not by vaults and locks which fence them from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such a ...more

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Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

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If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It...more

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Every man wishes to pursue his occupation and to enjoy the fruits of his labours and the produce of his property in peace and safety and with the lea...more

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If it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council or any other general authority of the government, t...more

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Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.

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For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

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Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.

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Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we foun...more