The framers of the Constitution were especially concerned with limiting the power of government and securing the liberty of citizens.
A few years later, the Charter of Liberties was enriched by the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, formally entitled "an Act for the better securing the liberty of the subject, and for prevention of imprisonment beyond the seas".
The result of their efforts – the 1959 Obscene Publications Act – with its "public good" defence for works of science, literature, art or learning ensured the failure of the Chatterley prosecution, and in doing so secured the liberty of literature in Britain over the past 50 years.
We propose, on the contrary, to extend governmental power in order to secure the liberty of the oppressed from the oppressor.
Jefferson asked, can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?
The U.S. government's ability to protect America... to secure the liberties of our people... and to support the rights and freedoms of others around the world depends on maintaining a balance between what's public and what should remain out of the public domain.
He then quoted Patrick Henry: "The liberties of a people never were nor ever will be secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them".
The manners Burke saw around him in England were continuous with those he had seen in the middle ages, or projected backwards thither, in which a powerful executive government was balanced by other agencies with the effect of securing civil liberty.
