"The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign affairs. Let the General Government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our General Government may be reduced to a very simple organization, and a very inexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants."

You may also like:

• 

  Abraham Lincoln
  16th U.S. President

• 

  Alexander Hamilton
  Founding Father of the United States

• 

  Andrew Jackson
  7th U.S. President

• 

  Benjamin Franklin
  Founding Father of the United States

• 

  George Washington
  1st U.S. President

• 

  James Madison
  4th U.S. President

• 

  John Adams
  2nd U.S. President

• 

  Theodore Roosevelt
  26th U.S. President

• 

  Thomas Paine
  Author