James Madison

“ Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one. ”

“ In proportion as government is influenced by opinion, it must be so by whatever influences opinion. This decides the question concerning a Constitutional Declaration of Rights, which requires an influence on government, by becoming a part of the public opinion.
The larger a country the less easy for its real opinion to be ascertained, and the less difficult to be counterfeited; when ascertained or presumed, the more respectable it is in the eyes of individuals. This is favorable to the authority of government. ”

“ Whatever facilitates a general intercourse of sentiments, as good roads, domestic commerce, a free press, and particularly a circulation of newspapers through the entire body of the people, and Representatives going from, and returning among, every part of them, is equivalent to a contraction of territorial limits, and is favorable to liberty, where these may be too extensive. ”