It is hardly too strong to say that the constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never did, and it never will. Douglass, August 4, 1857. Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance.