Property is in its nature timid and seeks protection, and nothing is more gratifying to government than to become a protector.

We are not a nation, but a union, a confederacy of equal and sovereign states.

The interval between the decay of the old and the formation and the establishment of the new, constitutes a period of transition, which must always necessarily be one of uncertainty, confusion, error, and wild and fierce fanaticism.

In looking back, I see nothing to regret and little to correct.

The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.