Sparks Commentary

“We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in a...

Introduction : The document that changed everything in America … When the Constitution was written, there was a lot going on at that tim...

“The Stile of this Confederacy shall be ' The United States of America '.” – Article I of the “Articles of Confederation and per...

“I pass over the constitutions of Rhode Island and Connecticut , because they were formed prior to the Revolution , and even before the pr...

“It will be the business of this chapter to consider the British parliament ; in which the legislative power, and (of course) the supreme ...

“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may r...

“No man shall be put to death without the testimony of two or three witnesses or that which is equivalent thereunto.” – The Massachuset...

“My intention here is not to exclude the consent of the people from being one just foundation of government where it has place. It is sur...

“Bills of attainder, ex-post-facto laws, and laws impairing the obligation of contracts, are contrary to the first principles of the socia...

“No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed , nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, exce...

“That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights , of which, when they enter into a state of...

“The history of  Great Britain  is the one with which we are in general the best acquainted, and it gives us  many useful lessons . We may...

“It is well known that in the Roman republic the legislative authority, in the last resort, resided for ages in two different political b...

"The political liberty of the [citizen] is a tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order t...

"The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union, a  republican  form of government ... " -  Article 4, Section...

"As the perusal of the political papers under the signature of Publius has afforded me great satisfaction, I shall certainly conside...

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them wi...

"The ratification of the conventions of  nine states , shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the sta...

"The distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property. But mod...

"Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of War, where every man is Enemy to every man ; the same is consequent to the time, whe...