Educational Foundation

"The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object an life of all republican governments."

Benjamin Rush

In the Hands of the People

"It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction."

Thomas Jefferson

Protecting Liberty

"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others."

Thomas Jefferson

Right or Wrong

"I have never yet made, and I hope I never shall make, it the least point of consideration, whether a thing is popular or unpopular, but whether it is right or wrong. That which is right will become popular, and that which is wrong will soon lose its temporary popularity, and sink into disgrace."

Thomas Paine

The Value of One

"The larger a country, the less easy for its real opinion to be ascertained, and the less difficult to be counterfeited; when ascertained or presumed, the more respectable it is in the eyes of the individuals. This is favorable to the authoirty of government. For the same reason, the more extensive a country, the more insignificant is each individual in his own eyes. This may be unfavorable to liberty."

James Madison

Power Over Will

"In the general course of human nature, a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will."

Alexander Hamilton

Weakness

"It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power."

John Adams

Weakness

"It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power."

John Adams

Blinded to Truth

"Party knows no impulse but spirit, no prize but victory. It is blind to truth, and hardened against conviction. It seeks to justify error by perseverance, and denies to its own mind the operation if its own judgment. A man under the tyrrany of party spirit is the greatest slave upon the earth, for none but himself can deprive him of the freedom of thought."

Thomas Paine

Baneful effects of Parties

"Let me now...warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party...It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeebles the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one party against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption...A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume."

George Washington