I console myself with the reflection that those who will come after us will be as wise as we are, & as able to take care of themselves as we have been.

what is practicable must often controul what is pure theory; and the habits of the governed determine in a great degree what is practicable.

The interruption of our commerce with England, produced by our embargo & non-intercourse law, & the general indignation excited by her bare-faced attempts to make us accessories & tributories to her usurpations on the high seas, have generated in this country an universal spirit of...

justice is the fundamental law of society.

it...

enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body & mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

all these concerns I am now leaving to be settled by my friend mr Madison. within a few days I retire to my family, my books, & farms & having gained the harbor myself, I shall look on my friends still buffeting the storm, with anxiety indeed, but not with envy. never did prisoner,...

a crisis the most important the US. have ever met since their independance