7794. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Rightful limits.—
We owe every other sacrifice [447]
to
ourselves, to our federal brethren, and to the
world at large, to pursue with temper and
perseverance the great experiment which
shall prove that man is capable of living in
society, governing itself by laws self-imposed,
and securing to its members the enjoyment
of life, liberty, property and peace; and
further to show, that even when the government
of its choice shall manifest a tendency
to degeneracy, we are not at once to despair
but that the will and the watchfulness of its
sounder parts will reform its aberrations, recall
it to original and legitimate principles
and restrain it within the rightful limits of
self-government.—
Virginia Protest. Washington ed. ix, 498.
Ford ed., x, 351.
(M.
1825)
