Indeed, in a free government almost all other rights would…

In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. ...under the republican forms [of government],…

— James Madison

“A government that fails to eradicate poverty is a worthless government, even if it does everything else right, because a poor person cannot be…

— Mehmet Murat ildan

“My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.”

— Joe Biden

The source of the government's authority is “the consent of the governed.” This means that the government is not the ruler, but the servant…

— Ayn Rand

GOVERNMENT has no rights; it is a delegation from several individuals for the purpose of securing their own. It is therefore just, only so…

— Percy Bysshe Shelley

If government can give you rights, government can take them away from you.

— Roy Moore

The government was set to protect man from criminals-and the constitution was written to protect man from the government. The Bill of Rights was…

— Ayn Rand

Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…

— Thomas Jefferson

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?…

— Thomas Jefferson

The First Amendment exists to protect our religious liberty--to ensure that all Americans are able to seek out worship God with all our hearts,…

— Ted Cruz

If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…

— George Washington

Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and…

— Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in…

— John Adams

I deny the right of Congress to force a slaveholding State upon an unwilling people. I deny their right to force a free State…

— Stephen A. Douglas

“For my part I consider the central idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us of proving that popular government is…

— Shelby Foote