I think the first duty of society is justice.
Unless your government is respectable, foreigners will invade your rights; and to maintain tranquillity, it must be respectable – even to observe neutrality, you must have a strong government.
Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.
In the usual progress of things, the necessities of a nation in every stage of its existence will be found at least equal to its resources.
The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.
Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.
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