"I consider the people who constitute a society or nation as the source of all authority in that nation."

"Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a censor morum over each other."

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become corrupt as in Europe."

"The will of the people, expressed by their representatives, is the only legitimate foundation of any government."

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories."