Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.

The diversity in the faculties of men from which the rights of property originate is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests.

As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed.

It is in vain to say that enlightened statesmen will be able to adjust these clashing interests, and render them all subservient to the public good. Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.

The public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and the measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing…

Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires.

The Bank of the United States has been organized under auspices the most favorable, and can not fail to be an important auxiliary to those measures.

The period of my retiring from the public service being at little distance, I shall find no occasion more proper than the present for expressing to my fellow citizens my deep sense of the continued confidence and kind support which I have…

My grateful recollection of these distinguished marks of their favorable regard can never cease, and with the consciousness that, if I have not served my country with greater ability, I have served it with a sincere devotion will accompany…

Nor is it less a peculiar felicity of this Constitution, so dear to us all, that it is found to be capable, without losing its vital energies, of expanding itself over a spacious territory with the increase and expansion of the community…

These contemplations, sweetening the remnant of my days, will animate my prayers for the happiness of my beloved country, and a perpetuity of the institutions under which it is enjoyed.

The resources and the faith of the nation, displayed in the system which Congress has established, insure respect and confidence both at home and abroad.

The instruction and discipline thus acquired would gradually diffuse through the entire body of the militia that practical knowledge and promptitude for active service which are the great ends to be pursued.

With our Indian neighbors, the just and benevolent system continued toward them has also preserved peace, and is more and more advancing habits favorable to their civilization and happiness.

In the midst of the wrongs and vexations experienced from external causes there is much room for congratulation on the prosperity and happiness flowing from our situation at home.

The face of our country ever presents evidence of laudable enterprise, of extensive capital, and of durable improvement.

In a cultivation of the materials and the extension of useful manufactures, more especially in the general application to household fabrics, we behold a rapid diminution of our dependence on foreign supplies.

I feel particular satisfaction in remarking that an interior view of our country presents us with grateful proofs of its substantial and increasing prosperity.

To a thriving agriculture and the improvements related to it is added a highly interesting extension of useful manufactures, the combined product of professional occupations and of household industry.

It will rest with the consideration of Congress also whether a provident as well as fair encouragement would not be given to our navigation by such regulations as would place it on a level of competition with foreign vessels, particularly…

But, above all, a well-constituted seminary in the center of the nation is recommended by the consideration that the additional instruction emanating from it would contribute not less to strengthen the foundations than to adorn the…

Among the commercial abuses still committed under the American flag, and leaving in force my former reference to that subject, it appears that American citizens are instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in…

The same just and benevolent motives which produced interdiction in force against this criminal conduct will doubtless be felt by Congress in devising further means of suppressing the evil.