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Joseph Story
Who shall call upon the people to redeem their possessions, and revive the republic, when their own hands have deliberately and corruptly surrendered them to the oppressor, and have built the prisons or dug the graves of their own friends?
This dark picture, it is to be hoped, will never be applicable to the Republic of America. And yet, it affords a warning, which, like all the lessons of past experience, we are not permitted to disregard. America, free, happy, and enlightened as she is, must rest the preservation of her rights and liberties upon the virtue, independence, justice, and sagacity of the people. If either fail, the republic is gone. Its shadow may remain, with all of the pomp, and circumstances, and trickery of government, but its vital power will have departed.
Joseph Story, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 1833
If Joseph Story were to see what became of his beloved country, and her people, I'm sure the shock would be to much for his heart, and no doubt send him back from where he came from to get his fleeting glimpse of hellraisers.