In Memoriam

"To the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of hi countrymen."

Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee
Eulogy for George Washington December 1799

Blessings to Mankind

"Let our common poepole be compelled by law to give their children (what is commonly called) a good education. Let schoolmasters of every description be supported in part by the public, and let their principles and morals be subjected to examination before we employ them... This plan of general education alone will render the American Revolution a blessing to mankind."

Benjamin Rush

Importance of an Education

"The preservation of the means of k nowledge among the lowest ranks is of more importance to the public than all the property of all the rich men in the country."

John Adams

Back to School

"Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among people."

John Adams

A New Nation

"At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a nation, and if their citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own."

George Washington

Independent

"The country shall be independent, and we will be satisfied iwth nothing short of it."

Samuel Adams

Second Amendment Day

“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government”

― George Washington

An American

"I am not a Virginian, but an American."

Patrick Henry

Of Necessity

"Resolved; That these colonies are, and of rightought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved of all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That it is expedient forthwith totake the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective colonies for their consideration and approbation."

Richard Henry Lee; on this Day in History

Servants and Agents of the People

"Rulers are the servants and agents of the people; the people are their masters."

Patrick Henry

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

Waftings of War

"The insulated state in which nature has placed the American continent should so far avail it that no spark of war kindled in the other quarters of the globe should be wafted across the wide oceans which separate us from them."

Thomas Jefferson

Militia

"Always remembering that an armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republic; that without standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe."

James Madison

Constitutional Freedom

"Give me the steady, uniform, unshaken security of constitutional freedom. Give me the right of trial by jury of my own neighbors, and to be taxed by my own representatives only. What will become of the law and courts of justice without this? I woudl die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation; but take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed."

Alexander Hamilton

Defense of Liberty

"That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment to use arms in defence of so valuable a blessing [as liberty], on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms...should be the last resort."

George Washington

Against all Hazards

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned it and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."

John Adams

Knowledge

"A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be thier own Governors, must arm themselves iwth the power which kn owledge gives."

James Madison

Human Felicity

"Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day."

Benjamin Franklin

Recipe for Felicity

"A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe for felicity."

Thomas Jefferson

Want of Bread

"Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread."

A Bad Cause

"A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men."

Thomas Paine

Happiness Beyond this Life

"I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life."

Thomas Paine

The Hand of Providence

"The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations."

George Washington

Works of Providence

"See the Wonderous works of Providence! The uncertainty of human things!"

George Washington

Catching Happiness

“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”

Benjamin Franklin

Happy Birthday

"To the man who unites all hearts."

Popular toast to honor George Washington

Truth and Error Made Known

"Printers are educated in the Belief, that when Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick; and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

Benjamin Franklin

The Right of Religious Belief

"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established."

James Madison

A Wise and Frugal Government

"With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens -- a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities."



~Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

Veneration and Love

"I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love."

George Washington; First Inaugural Address

Self Government

"Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question."

Thomas Jefferson

Republicanism

"Republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination. On the contrary...under no form of government, will laws be better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness be more effectually dispensed to mankind."

George Washington

Free Exercise of Religion

"All men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others."

George Mason

Intent of Parties

"The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all instruments is to construe them according to the sense of the terms and the intention of the parties."

Justice Joseph Story

Tumult of Liberty

"Societies exist under three forms sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one. 3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it's evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."

(Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. "I prefer the tumult of Liberty to the quiet of servitude.)
Thomas Jefferson

Devotion to Country

"God, in his great goodness grant, in the future vicissitudes of the world, that our countrymen, whenever their essential rights shall be attacked, will divest themselves of all party prejudice, and devote their lives and properties in the defence of the sacred liberties of their country, without any view to emolument, but that which springs from glorious and honorable actions."
~John Joseph Henry; Revolutionary War Soldier

Equal Justice

"The Law should be equal for all, whether it rewards or punishes, whether it protects or restrains."

Thomas Paine

Safe and Precise

"When an insturment admits two constructions, the one safe, the other dangerous, the one precise, the other indefinite, I prefer that which is safe & precise. I had rather ask an enlargement of power from the nation, where it is found necessary, than to assume it by a construction which would make our powers boundless."

Thomas Jefferson