...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty is said to be less. In other words, men are thought to be more under the control of extra-legal authorities, and to defer more to those around them, in pursuing even their lawful and innocent occupations, than in almost every other country.

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper

Politics / government

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If we would have civilization and the exertion indispensable to its success, we must have property; if we have property, we must have its rights; if we have the rights of property, we must take those consequences of the rights of property which are inseparable from the rights themselves.

— James Fenimore Cooper

Politics / government

Systems are to be appreciated by their general effects, and not by particular exceptions.

— James Fenimore Cooper

Politics / government

In America, it is indispensable that every well wisher of true liberty should understand that acts of tyranny can only proceed from the publick. The publick, then, is to be watched, in this country, as, in other countries kings and aristocrats are to be watched.

— James Fenimore Cooper

Politics / government

...no civilized society can long exist, with an active power in its bosom that is stronger than the law.

— James Fenimore Cooper

Politics / government

All that a good government aims at...is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid to the force of its own unavoidable consequences, and to abstain from fortifying and accumulating social inequality as a means of increasing political inequalities.

— James Fenimore Cooper

Politics / government