The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none.

The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.

Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted.

The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

We are beginning a new era in our government. I cannot too strongly urge the necessity of a rigid economy and an inflexible determination not to enlarge the income beyond the real necessities of the government.

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending.

Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated.

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.

In England the judges should have independence to protect the people against the crown. Here the judges should not be independent of the people, but be appointed for not more than seven years. The people would always re-elect the good judges.

Our government is founded upon the intelligence of the people. I for one do not despair of the republic. I have great confidence in the virtue of the great majority of the people, and I cannot fear the result.

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.

I have always been afraid of banks.

I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.

Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.

Mischief springs from the power which the moneyed interest derives from a paper currency which they are able to control, from the multitude of corporations with exclusive privileges... which are employed altogether for their benefit.

I've got big shoes to fill. This is my chance to do something. I have to seize the moment.