"I am commonly opposed to those who modestly assume the rank of champions of liberty, and make a very patriotic noise about the people. It is the stale artifice which has duped the world a thousand times, and yet, though detected, it is still successful. I love liberty as well as anybody. I am proud of it, as the true title of our people to distinction above others; but . . . I would guard it by making the laws strong enough to protect it."

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Source : Fisher Ames, John Thornton Kirkland (1969). “Works of Fisher Ames: Memoir, by J. T. Kirkland. Letters”

Fisher Ames

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