John L. O’Sullivan

Government should have as little as possible to do with the general business and interests of the people. If it once undertake these functions as its rightful province of action, it is impossible to say to it “thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.” It will be impossible to confine it to the public interests of the commonwealth. It will be perpetually tampering with private interests, and sending forth seeds of corruption which will result in the demoralization of the society. Its domestic action should be confined to the administration of justice, for the protection of the natural equal rights of the citizen, and the preservation of social order.

From the introductory essay in the first issue of The United States Democratic Review (1837), presumably written by the magazine’s editor and co-founder, John L. O’Sullivan, the man who coined the term “Manifest Destiny” eight years later. Image: O’Sullivan as he appeared, in sketch, on the cover of Harper’s Weekly in November 1874.