A Man's House Is His

May It Please Your Honors: I Was Desired By One Of The Court To Look Into The Books, And Consider The Question Now Before Them Concerning Writs Of Assistance.

Government Is Founded Not On Force, As Was The Theory Of Hobbes; Nor On Compact, As Was The Theory Of Locke And Of The Revolution Of 1688; Nor On Property, As Was The Assertion Of Harrington. It Springs From The Necessities Of Our Nature, And Has An Everlasting Foundation In The Unchangeable Will Of God.

I Will To My Dying Day Oppose With All The Powers And Faculties God Has Given Me, All Such Instruments Of Slavery On The One Hand, And Villainy On The Other, As This Writ Of Assistance Is.

But I Think I Can Sincerely Declare That I Cheerfully Submit Myself To Every Odious Name For Conscience' Sake; And From My Soul I Despise All Those Whose Guilt, Malice, Or Folly Has Made Them My Foes.

What Must Be The Wealth That Avarice, Aided By Power, Cannot Exhaust!