Edmund Burke: “It is not from the spirit of zeal, but the spirit of whiskey, that these wretches act.”

The House of Lords, for instance, is not morally competent to dissolve the House of Commons,--no, nor even to dissolve itself, nor to abdicate, if it would, its portion in the legislature of the kingdom.

Those who are servants in name, as well as in effect, do not like to be told of their situation, their duty, and their obligations.

The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable.

This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.