The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquillity, their natural rights...and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity, and happiness.
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The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals; it is a social compact...that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good...that every man may, at all times, find his security in them.
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V. All power residing originally in the people, and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government...are the substitutes and agents, and are at all times accountable to them.
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X. Every individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws...but no part of the property of any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people.
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XXX. In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers...the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers...the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers...to the end it may be a government of laws, and not of men…