The Very Essence Of A Free Government

To Maintain The Ascendancy Of The Constitution Over The Lawmaking Majority Is The Great And Essential Point On Which The Success Of The [american] System Must Depend; Unless That Ascendancy Can Be Preserved, The Necessary Consequence Must Be That The Laws Will Supersede The Constitution; And, Finally, The Will Of The Executive, By Influence Of Its Patronage, Will Supersede The Laws . . .

Government Has Within It A Tendency To Abuse Its Powers.

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 Of An Individual Or A Party.

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 Under Foot. I Hold Concession Or Compromise To Be Fatal. If We Concede An Inch, Concession Would Follow Compromise, Until Our Ranks Would Be So Broken That Effectual Resistance Would Be Impossible.

We Are Not A Nation, But A Union, A Confederacy Of Equal And Sovereign States.