If Man Is Not Fit To Govern

To The Baptist Churches On Neal's Greek On Black Creek, North Carolina I Have Received, Fellow-citizens, Your Address, Approving My Objection To The Bill Containing A Grant Of Public Land To The Baptist Church At Salem Meeting House, Mississippi Territory. Having Always Regarded The Practical Distinction Between Religion And Civil Government As Essential To The Purity Of Both, And As Guaranteed By The Constitution Of The United States, I Could Not Have Otherwise Discharged My Duty On The Occasion Which Presented Itself

Testimony Of All Ages Forces Us To Admit That War Is Among The Most Dangerous Enemies To Liberty, And That The Executive Is The Branch Most Favored By It Of All The Branches Of Power.

Some Degree Of Abuse Is Inseparable From The Proper Use Of Every Thing; And In No Instance Is This More True Than In That Of The Press. It Has Accordingly Been Decided, By The Practice Of The States, That It Is Better To Leave A Few Of Its Noxious Branches To Their Luxuriant Growth, Than, By Pruning Them Away, To Injure The Vigor Of Those Yielding The Proper Fruits.

Temporary Deviations From Fundamental Principles Are Always More Or Less Dangerous. When The First Pretext Fails, Those Who Become Interested In Prolonging The Evil Will Rarely Be At A Loss For Other Pretexts.

Bills Of Attainder, Ex-post Facto Laws And Laws Impairing The Obligation Of Contracts Are Contrary To The First Principles Of The Social Compact, And To Every Principle Of Sound Legislation.