Constitutional statutes ... which embody the settled public opinion of the people who enacted them and whom they are to govern - can always be enforced. But if they embody only the sentiments of a bare majority, pronounced under the influence of a temporary excitement, they will, if strenuously opposed, always fail of their object; nay, they are likely to injure the cause they are framed to advance.

The debt was the most sacred obligation incurred during the war. It was by no means the largest in amount. We do not haggle with those who lent us money. We sh…

The general review of the past tends to satisfy me with my political life. No man, I suppose, ever came up to his ideal. The first half [of] my political life …

One of its [James A. Garfield's assassination] lessons, perhaps its most important lesson, is the folly, the wickedness, and the danger of the extreme and bitt…

In the United States, except for slaves, servants and the destitute fed by townships, everyone has the vote and this is an indirect contributor to law-making. …

The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The peopl…

It is better that the law should be certain than that every judge should speculate upon improvements in it.