‘Wholesome restraint’

Daniel Webster in 1847.

“Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint; the more restraint on others to keep off from us, the more liberty we have."

— Daniel Webster (1782-1852), a famed lawyer who served as U.S. senator from Massachusetts, congressman representing New Hampshire and then Massachusetts, and secretary of state. He was considered the leading orator of his time but had what many considered too flexible moral principles, especially when it came to the slavery issue. He called slavery evil but was willing to compromise with the South on the issue to try to keep the country from splitting up.