I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom. Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital. Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. education and free discussion are the antidotes of both. Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Among the most inestimable of our blessings, also, is that.. of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support. Always take hold of things by the smooth handle. A free people claim their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their magistrate. War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses. Every people may establish what form of government they please, and change it as they please, the will of the nation being the only thing essential. Common sense is the foundation of all authorities, of the laws themselves, and of their construction. |