The spirit of the age and country is to accumulate power in the hands of the multitude: to shorten terms of service in high public places; to multiply elections, and diminish executive power; to weaken all agencies protective of property, or repressive of crime; to abolish capital punishments and imprisonment for debt.
Quincy describes the prevailing political trends of his time, emphasizing the shift of power towards the masses and the weakening of executive authority.
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If there is a Bostonian who ever sailed from his own harbor for distant lands, or returned to it from them, without feelings, at the sight of the Blue Hills, which he is unable to express, his heart is differently constituted from mine.
This rendered it more unavoidable that the remainder of the continent should ultimately be ours.
He considered himself placed between two batteries, neither of which regarded him as one of their soldiers.
The tongue of falsehood can never be silenced.
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