I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand and villainy on the other, as this Writ of Assistance is.
~ James Otis
It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.
The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.
A man's house is his castle.
Every one with this writ may be a tyrant; if this commission be legal, a tyrant in a legal manner, also, may control, imprison, or murder any one within the realm.
Now, one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house.
