Gerrit Smith Quotes

I believe that government is for the use of the people, and not the people for the use of the government.

Government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people; it wasn't intended to be all things to all people.

Republics are not in and of themselves better than other forms of government except in so far as they carry with them and guarantee to the citizen that liberty of thought and action for which they were established.

The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves — not of the government.

The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.

There is too much government today. We've got to remember the government should be by the people, of the people, and for the people.

Liberty does not exist where rights are on one side and power on the other. To be liberty, rights must be armed with vital powers. A people cannot be free who do not participate in the control of the government which operates upon them.

The chief duty of government is to keep the peace and stand out of the sunshine of the people.

Our country's founders cherished liberty, not democracy.

Here, also, has been evolved the form of government consistent with the largest possible civil liberty.

I believe that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

The government serves the people - not vice-versa.

We've got in the habit of not really understanding how freedom was in the 19th century, the idea of government of the people in the 19th century. America commits itself to that in theory.

The history of government is the history of two conflicting principles: one is the supreme importance of the State; the other is the supreme importance of the individual.

The American people believe that we ought to control our government. On the other hand, we've seen government more and more controlling us

Nobody expects democracy to be efficient--individual freedom was the primary purpose of our founders - but it should function at least a little

As the happiness of the people is the sole end of government, so the consent of the people is the only foundation of it ...

Criticism in a free man's country is made on certain assumptions, one of which is the assumption that the government belongs to the people and is at all times subject to the people's correction and criticism.

All government is intended for the benefit of the people.

Freedom Party International believes that the purpose of government is to protect every individual's fundamental freedoms, not to restrict them.

In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example ... of charters of power granted by liberty.

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives

The signers of the Declaration of Independence did not pledge their fortunes and sacred honor so the federal government could play 'helicopter parent' to a free people. They saw government as our shared project to secure liberty, doing a few big things and doing them well.

Our Constitution exists to secure individual freedom, the essential condition of human flourishing. Liberty is not provided by government; liberty preexists government. It's our natural birthright, not a gift from the sovereign. Our founders upended things and divided power to enshrine a promise, not a process.

Government should fear the people, not the other way around.