Salus populi suprema lex esto (Latin "The safety of the people should be the supreme law," or "The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law") is found in Cicero's "De Legibus" (book III, part III, sub. VIII). It is the state motto of Missouri. It is part of its state seal. Also cited in a 1764 essay by James Otis (1725-1783) Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved 