In no instance have... the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.

We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people

A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.

In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.

[Some people might say,] Aha! They forgot about the Constitution's general welfare clause! ... With respect to the two words 'general welfare,' I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.