Edmund Burke: “And first, the body and mass of the people never ought to be treated as criminal.”

Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.

Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.

They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.

But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.