Ambition Must Be Made To Counteract Ambition.

I Hope This Will Find You...enjoying The Commencement Of A New Year With Every Prospect That Can Make It A Happy One.

The American People Owe It To Themselves, And To The Cause Of Free Government, To Prove By Their Establishments For The Advancement And Diffusion Of Knowledge, That Their Political Institutionsare As Favorable To The Intellectual And Moral Improvement Of Man As They Are Conformable To His Individual And Social Rights.

[the Human Mind] Finds More Facility In Assenting To The Self-existence Of An Invisible Cause Possessing Infinite Power, Wisdom, And Goodness, Than In The Self-existence Of The Universe, Visibly Destitute Of These Attributes, And Which May Be The Effect Of Them.

Who Does Not See That . . . The Same Authority Which Can Force A Citizen To Contribute Three Pence Only Of His Property For The Support Of Any One Establishment, May Force Him To Conform To Any Other Establishment In All Cases Whatsoever?

Because Finally, 'the Equal Right Of Every Citizen To The Free Exercise Of His Religion According To The Dictates Of Conscience' Is Held By The Same Tenure With All His Other Rights. If We Recur To Its Origin, It Is Equally The Gift Of Nature; If We Weigh Its Importance, It Cannot Be Less Dear To Us; If We Consider The 'declaration Of Those Rights Which Pertain To The Good People Of Virginia, As The Basis And Foundation Of Government,' It Is Enumerated With Equal Solemnity, Or Rather Studied Emphasis.