"I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." - Thomas Jefferson

"In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson had written that ‘all men...are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...[and] to secure these rights, governments are instituted.’

"When a government protects the rights of its people and provides an adequate remedy for those whose rights have been violated, then that government is providing equal justice for all.

"Justice requires an opportunity and a place to complain of an injury as well as the machinery to provide a remedy. For the accused, justice requires the opportunity to hear and understand the charge, cross-examine those who are making the charge, have a fair and speedy trial, and have an opportunity to repair the wrong if found guilty.

"Nothing destroys the credibility of a government faster than its failure to provide fair and equal justice for its people." (W. Cleon Skousen, The Making of America, p 239, National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1986)

"I believe... that [justice] is instinctive and innate, that the moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing, or hearing; as a wise Creator must have seen to be necessary in an animal destined to live in society; that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another; that the nonexistence of justice is not to be inferred from the fact that the same act is deemed virtuous and right in one society which is held vicious and wrong in another; because, as the circumstances and opinions of different societies vary, so the acts which may do them right or wrong must vary also; for virtue does not consist in the act we do, but in the end it is to effect. If it is to effect the happiness of him to whom it is directed, it is virtuous, while in a society under different circumstances and opinions, the same act might produce pain, and would be vicious. The essence of virtue is in doing good to others, while what is good may be one thing in one society, and its contrary in another." (Thomas Jefferson quoted in W. Cleon Skousen’s The Making of America, p. 240)

"I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one] which ought to shape its administration,... equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political." (Thomas Jefferson as quoted in W. Cleon Skousen’s The Making of America, p 241)

"When one undertakes to administer justice, it must be with an even hand, and by rule; what is done for one must be done for everyone in equal degree." (Thomas Jefferson as quoted in W. Cleon Skousen’s The Making of America, p 241)

"I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and framed and adopted that Declaration. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that independence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence." (Abraham Lincoln, Independence Hall, February 22, 1861)