We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us.

The history of liberty is a history of resistance.

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.

I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.

It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to infidelity.