Daniel Webster Quotes About Constitution

Quotes about: Constitution

• There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters

  Daniel Webster

  Mean, Men, Gun

  Daniel Webster, James Rees (1839). “The beauties of the Hon. Daniel Webster: selected and arranged, with a critical essay on his genius and writings”, p.30

• Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution of your country and the government established under it. Leave evils which exist in some parts of the country, but which are beyond your control, to the all-wise direction of an over-ruling Providence. Perform those duties which are present, plain and positive. Respect the laws of your country.

  Daniel Webster

  Government, Years, America

  Letter to Dr. William B. Gooch of West Dennis, Massachusetts, in 1851. The Bay State Monthly, 1898.

• I regard it (the Constitution) as the work of the purest patriots and wisest statesman that ever existed, aided by the smiles of a benign Providence; it almost appears a "Divine interposition in our behalf... the hand that destroys our Constitution rends our Union asunder forever.

  Daniel Webster

  Hands, Forever, Unions

• The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions

  Daniel Webster

  Freedom, Gun, Libertarian Party

  Daniel Webster, James Rees (1839). “The beauties of the Hon. Daniel Webster: selected and arranged, with a critical essay on his genius and writings”, p.30

• If an angel should be winged from Heaven, on an errand of mercy to our country, the first accents that would glow on his lips would be, Beware! Be cautious! You have everything to lose; nothing to gain. We live under the only government that ever existed which was framed by the unrestrained and deliberate consultations of the people. Miracles do not cluster. That which has happened but once in six thousand years cannot be expected to happen often. Such a government, once gone, might leave a void, to be filled, for ages, with revolution and tumult, riot and despotism.

  Daniel Webster

  Country, Angel, Years

• Let it be borne on the flag under which we rally in every exigency, that we have one country, one constitution, one destiny.

  Daniel Webster

  Country, Destiny, America

  Speech at Niblo's Saloon, New York, N.Y., 15 Mar. 1837

• Good intentions will always be pleaded, for every assumption of power; but they cannot justify it ... It is hardly too strong to say, that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intention, real or pretended.

  Daniel Webster

  Strong, Real, Gun

  Daniel Webster (1854). “The speeches of Daniel Webster and his master-pieces”, p.282

• We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land - nor, perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution.

  Daniel Webster

  Stars, Ocean, Land

  Daniel Webster, Edward Everett (1903). “Writings and speeches hitherto uncollected, v. 1. Addresses on various occasions”

• ..if the Northern states refuse, willfully and deliberately, to carry into effect that part of the Constitution which respects the restoration of fugitive slaves, and Congress provide no remedy, the South would no longer be bound to observe the compact. A bargain can not be broken on one side, and still bind the other side.

  Daniel Webster

  War, Broken, Restoration

  Henry Rootes Jackson, Joseph M. Brown, Daniel Webster (1891*). “The Wanderer Case: The Speech of Hon. Henry R. Jackson of Savannah, Ga”

• No power but Congress can declare war; but what is the value of this constitutional provision, if the President of his own authority may make such military movements as must bring on war? ... [T]hese remarks originate purely in a desire to maintain the powers of government as they are established by the Constitution between the different departments, and hope that, whether we have conquests or no conquests, war or no war, peace or no peace, we shall yet preserve, in its integrity and strength, the Constitution of the United States.

  Daniel Webster

  War, Integrity, Military

• No man can suffer too much, and no man can fall too soon, if he suffer or if he fall in defense of the liberties and Constitution of his country.

  Daniel Webster

  Country, Fall, Men

  Daniel Webster (1860). “The Union Text Book: Containing Selections from the Writings of Daniel Webster, The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and Washington's Farewell Address”, p.369

• I am committed against every thing which in my judgment, may weaken, endanger, or destroy (the Constitution) ... and especially against all extension of Executive power; and I am committed against any attempt to rule the free people of this country by the power and the patronage of the Government itself.

  Daniel Webster

  Country, Government, People

  Daniel Webster (1854). “The Works”, p.336

• The hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder forever.

  Daniel Webster

  Hands, Forever, Unions

  Daniel Webster (1860). “The Union Text Book: Containing Selections from the Writings of Daniel Webster, The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and Washington's Farewell Address”, p.260

• If the States were not left to leave the Union when their rights were interfered with, the government would have been National, but the Convention refused to baptize it by that name.

  Daniel Webster

  Rights, Government, Law

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin