Samuel Adams to Richard Henry Lee (August 24, 1789)

I mean, my friend, to let you know how deeply I am impressed with a sense of the Importance of Amendments; that the good People may clearly see the distinction, for there is a distinction, between the federal Powers vested in Congress, and the sovereign Authority belonging to the several States, which is the Palladium of the private, and personal rights of the Citizens.1 I freely protest to you that earnestly wish some Amendments may be judiciously and deliberately made without partial or local considerations—that there may be no uncomfortable Jarrings among the several Powers; that the whole People may in every State contemplate their own safety on solid grounds, and the Union of the States be perpetual. . . . Your Letter requires a further Consideration I will at present only express my astonishment at the strange, and absurd opinion of our former republican Connecticut friend—Tempora mutantur, et hic mutatur in illis.