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Joseph Story Quotes

Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Joseph Story was a distinguished figure in the early history of the United States. He served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1812 to 1845. His contributions to American law and legal thought were significant, and he is remembered for his influential writings on constitutional law and his role in shaping the early decisions of the Supreme Court.

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Famous Joseph Story Quotes

“The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but ... to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government.”

“To secure integrity there must a lofty sense of duty and a deep responsibility to future times as well as to God.”

Wells Responsibility Virtue Duty Integrity Secure Piety Lofty Future Time

Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

Source: Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution

“A feeble execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill executed, whatever may be its theory, must, in practice, be a bad government.”

May Government Practice Theory Ill Phrases Execution Bad Government

Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the Un. States: With a Prelim. Review of the Constitut. History of the Colonies and States, Bef. the Adoption of the Constitution

Source: Commentaries on the Constitution of the Un. States: With a Prelim. Review of the Constitut. History of the Colonies and States, Bef. the Adoption of the Constitution

“This provision (the 4th Amendment) speaks for itself. Its plain object is to secure the perfect enjoyment of that great right of the common law, that a man's house shall be his own castle, privileged against all civil and military intrusion.”

Men Law House Speak Perfect Common Military Objects Civil Rights Secure Enjoyment Amendments Privileged Castles Provision Intrusion Common Law

Author:Joseph Story

“How easily men satisfy themselves that the Constitution is exactly what they wish it to be”

Men Wish Constitution

Book:Commentaries on the constitution of the United States

Source: Commentaries on the constitution of the United States

“One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offence to keep arms, and by substituting a regular army in the stead of a resort to the militia. The friends of a free government cannot be too watchful, to overcome the dangerous tendency of the public mind to sacrifice, for the sake of mere private convenience, this powerful check upon the designs of ambitious men.”

Source: A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States