•“It must be by this time evident to all men…that (the Articles of Confederation) is a system so radically vicious and unsound as to admit….an entire change.”

•“Our country is too large to have all affairs directed by a single government.”

•“The small landowners are the most precious part of the state.”

•“The powers contained in the constitution….ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.”

•“I am not among those who fear the people. They, not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.”

"I had rather be a free citizen of the small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire."

•“Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.”

•“When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”

•“… the power vested in congress of sending troops for suppressing insurrections will always enable them to stifle the first struggles of freedom."