It Is Harder To Preserve Than To

It Would Be Well For Those Interested To Reflect Whether There Now Exists, Or Ever Has Existed, A Wealthy And Civilized Community In Which One Portion Did Not Live On The Labor Of Another; And Whether The Form In Which Slavery Exists In The South Is Not But One Modification Of This Universal Condition... Let Those Who Are Interested Remember That Labor Is The Only Source Of Wealth, And How Small A Portion Of It, In All Old And Civilized Countries, Even The Best Governed, Is Left To Those By Whose Labor Wealth Is Created.

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.

Of All Earthly Blessings, I Place Liberty In The First Rank, And Of Course, Consider The Obligation To Defend And Preserve It, As The Most Sacred Of All Our Civil And Social Duties... It Is Not In The Power Of Any Single, Or Few Individuals To Preserve Liberty. It Can Only Be Effected By The People Themselves; By Their Intelligence, Virtue, Courage, And Patriotism.

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.

The Defence Of Human Liberty Against The Aggressions Of Despotic Power Have Been Always The Most Efficient In States Where Domestic Slavery Was To Prevail.