And who knows not that every individual in this great nation is, in this respect, equal to every other?
There is not one law for the nobles, another for the commons of the land--one for the clergy, another for the laity--one for the rich, another for the poor.

The nobility, it is true, have some privileges annexed to their birth; the judges, and other magistrates, have some annexed to their office; and professional men have some annexed to their professions:--but these privileges are neither injurious to the liberty or property of other men.

And you might as reasonably contend, that the bramble ought to be equal to the oak, the lamb to the lion, as that no distinctions should take place between the members of the same society.
The burdens of the State are distributed through the whole community, with as much impartiality as the complex nature of taxation will admit; every man sustains a part in proportion to his strength; no order is exempted from the payment of taxes.

Nor is any order of men exclusively entitled to the enjoyment of the lucrative offices of the State.

All cannot enjoy them, but all enjoy a capacity of acquiring them.