John Adams

[A]s a Republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangement of the powers of society, or in other words that form of government, which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of the laws, is the best of Republics.

John Adams, “Thoughts On Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies” (1776), passage quoted as epigraph in The State of Texas v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State of Georgia, State of Michigan, and State of Wisconsin (see Viva Frei Vlawg, December 9, 2020).