In Looking Back, I See

We Have Had So Many Years Of Prosperity, We Have Passed Through So Many Difficulties And Dangers Without The Loss Of Liberty - That We Begin To Think That We Hold It By Divine Right From Heaven Itself ... It Is Harder To Preserve Than To Obtain Liberty.

How Can Those Who Are Invested With The Power Of Government Be Prevented From The Abuse Of Those Powers As The Means Of Aggrandizing Themselves? ... Without A Strong Constitution To Counteract The Strong Tendency Of Government To Disorder And Abuse There Can Be Little Progress Or Improvement.

The Object Of A Constitution Is To Restrain The Government, As That Of Laws Is To Restrain Individuals.

The Government Of The Absolute Majority Instead Of The Government Of The People Is But The Government Of The Strongest Interests; And When Not Efficiently Checked, It Is The Most Tyrannical And Oppressive That Can Be Devised.

The Error Is In The Assumption That The General Government Is A Party To The Constitutional Compact. The States ... Formed The Compact, Acting As Sovereign And Independent Communities.