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A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.
Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.
The government that governs best governs least.
Thomas Jefferson
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