In 1840 I was called from my farm to undertake the administration of public affairs and I foresaw that I was called to a bed of thorns. I now leave that bed which has afforded me little rest, and eagerly seek repose in the quiet enjoyments of rural life.

The institutions under which we live, my countrymen, secure each person in the perfect enjoyment of all his rights.

I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free.

There will be found to exist at all times an imperious necessity for restraining all the functionaries of the Government within the range of their respective powers thereby preserving a just balance between the powers granted to this Government and those reserved to the States and to the people.

So far as it depends on the course of this government, our relations of good will and friendship will be sedulously cultivated with all nations.

I can never consent to being dictated to.

Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette - the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace.

It was hard graft all the way and a good result in the end.

Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free that he is no longer accountable to his fellow man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his God.

Here lies the body of my good horse, The General. For years he bore me around the circuit of my practice and all that time he never made a blunder. Would that his master could say the same.

When the happy era shall arrive for the emancipation of nations, hastened on as it will be by the example of America, shall they not resort to the Declaration of our Independence as the charter of their rights, and will not its author be hailed as the benefactor of the redeemed?