Maintaining Liberty

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders." ~Samuel Adams

"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech." ~Benjamin Franklin; Silence Dogood letter, 1722

Preservation of Liberty

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." -Thomas Jefferson

First, Our Fellowman

"There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest,honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republication government nor any real liberty; and this public passion must be superior to all private passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves and be happy to sacrifice their private pleasures, passions and interests, nay, their private friendships and dearest connections, when they stand in competition with the rights of society." ~John Adams; 1776

Security of State

"The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state. ~John Adams; Massachusetts Constitution

The Virtue of Patriotism

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families. The Amor Parriae is both a moral and a religious duty. It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but of millions of our fellow creatures, not only of the present but of future generations. This virtue we find constitutes a part of the first characters of history." ~Benjamin Rush; 1773

The Result of Lost Public Virtue

"When public virtue is gone, when the national spirit is fled...the republic is lost in essence, though it my still exist in form." ~John Adams

Qualities of Republicanism

"As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust; So there are other qualities in human nature, which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. Where the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us, faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another." ~James Madison; Federalist Papers

Securing Liberty

"Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks--no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them." ~James Madison