I have no commiseration for princes. My sympathies are reserved for the great mass of mankind ….
Speech on the Line of the Perdido, Senate (25 December 1810). |
An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.
Henry ClayHow often are we forced to charge fortune with partiality towards the unjust!
Henry ClayWhether we assert our rights by sea, or attempt their maintenance by land whithersoever we turn ourselves, this phantom incessantly pursues us. Already has it had too much influence on the councils of the nation.
Henry ClayI am not, sir, in favor of cherishing the passion of conquest. I am permitted … to indulge the hope of seeing, ere long, the new United States, (if you will allow me the expression,) embracing not only the old ….
Henry ClayIn all cases where incidental powers are acted upon, the principal and incidental ought to be congenial with each other, and partake of a common nature. The incidental power ought to be strictly subordinate and limited to the end proposed to be obtained by the specified power. In other words, under the name of accomplishing one object which is specified, the power implied ought not to be made to embrace other objects, which are not specified in the constitution.
Henry ClayThe great advantage of our system of government over all others, is, that we have a written constitution, defining its limits, and prescribing its authorities; and that, however, for a time, faction may convulse the nation, and passion and party prejudice sway its functionaries, the season of reflection will recur, when calmly retracing their deeds, all aberrations from fundamental principle will be corrected.
Henry ClayImpart additional strength to our happy Union.?Diversified as are the interests of its various parts, how admirably do they harmonize and blend together!?We have only to make a proper use of the bounties spread before us, to render us prosperous and powerful.
Henry ClayThe gentleman cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, "Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must."
Henry ClayAll religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty.
Henry ClayGovernment is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.
Henry ClayOf all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.
Henry ClayWe have had good and bad Presidents, and it is a consoling reflection that the American Nation possesses such elements of prosperity that the bad Presidents cannot destroy it, and have been able to do no more than slightly to retard the public's advancement.
Henry ClayThe Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity.
Henry ClayI would rather be right than be President.
Henry ClayAn oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.
Henry ClayIf you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.
Henry Clay