"The commonwealth seems to me to be a society of men constituted only for the procuring, preserving, and advancing their own civil interests."

"The only way whereby any one divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community."

"God gave the world to men in common; but since he gave it them for their benefit, and the greatest conveniences of life they were capable to draw from it, it cannot be supposed he meant it should alwa…"

"The power of the legislative, being derived from the people by a positive voluntary grant and institution, can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed."

"Men, being by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent."