Tyrannical Actions

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical."

~Thomas Jefferson

Happy Indeed

"Happy indeed would it be, if the convention shall be able to recommend such a firm and permanent government for this Union, that all who live under it may be secure in their lives, liberty, and property; and thrice happy would it be, if such a recommendation should obtain. Every body wishes, every body expects something from the convention; but what will be the final result of its deliberation, the book of fate must disclose. Persuaded I am, that the primary cause of all our disorders lies in the different State governments, and in the tenacity of that power, which pervades the whole of their systems. Whilst independent sovereignty is so ardently contended for, whilst the local views of each State, and separate interests, by which they are too much governed, will not yield to a more enlarged scale of politics, incompatibility in the laws of different States, and disrespect to those of the general government, must render the situation of this great country weak, inefficient, and disgraceful. It has already done so, almost to the final dissolution of it. Weak at home and disregarded abroad is our present condition, and contemptible enough it is."

~George Washington, letter to David Stuart, Philadelphia, July 1, 1787

Giving Your Best

"I cannot...avoid persuading myself, that it is essential to accomplish whatever I have undertaken (though reluctantly) to the best of my abilities."

~George Washington, letter to Marquis de Lafayette, New York, June 3, 1790

The Source of Liberty

"Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man — these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause."

Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

Calvin Coolidge July 5, 1926

Virtue and Knowledge

“If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.”

~Samuel Adams, Letter to James Warren, 1779

Sovereign States

“In the next place, the state governments are, by the very theory of the constitution, essential constituent parts of the general government. They can exist without the latter, but the latter cannot exist without them.”

~Joseph Story Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

Spirit of the Republic

"Virtue is the spirit of a republic; for where all power is derived from the people, all depends on their good disposition. If they are impious, factious and selfish; if they are abandoned to idleness, dissipation, luxury, and extravagance; if they are lost to the fear of God, and the love of their country, all is lost."

~Samuel Cooper, Oct. 25, 1780

A Sermon on the Commencement of the Constitution

Requirement of Neutrality

“The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power.

A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.”

~Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 11, 1787

Liberality of Thought

“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.”

~Thomas Jefferson

Parental Duty

“It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to the suggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness.”

~James Wilson, Lectures on Law, 1791

Full Superintendence

“The state governments have a full superintendence and control over the immense mass of local interests of their respective states, which connect themselves with the feelings, the affections, the municipal institutions, and the internal arrangements of the whole population.

They possess, too, the immediate administration of justice in all cases, civil and criminal, which concern the property, personal rights, and peaceful pursuits of their own citizens.”

~Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

Stale Artifices

“I am commonly opposed to those who modestly assume the rank of champions of liberty, and make a very patriotic noise about the people.

It is the stale artifice which has duped the world a thousand times, and yet, though detected, it is still successful.”

~Fisher Ames

Virtue Promotes Happiness

“If there is a form of government, then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better calculated to promote the general happiness than any other form?”

~John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

We Must Not Yield

“There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire.

If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.”

~John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776

The Whole Truth

“It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth – and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts.

Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.”

~Patrick Henry

Securing Liberty

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."

~Thomas Paine

Duty Owed

"That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other."

~James Madison (with George Mason); Virginia Declaration of Rights, Article XVI

Seed of Revolution

"What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.

This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution."

~John Adams

Liberty Without Virtue

"Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us."

~Benjamin Rush, Letter to John Adams (August 8, 1777)

Serving Justice

"Justice will not be served, until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are."

~Benjamin Franklin

Conducive to the Publik Weal

"That government is, or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community...and that when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such a manner as shall be judged conducive to the publik weal."

~George Mason; Draft of Virginia Declaration of Rights; 1776

Perfect Reliance

No man has a more perfect Reliance on the alwise and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have nor thinks his aid more necessary."

~George Washington; letter to William Gordon, May 1776

Good Heads and Good Hearts

"I first saw the Constitution of the United States in a foreign country. Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this nation and country than any which had ever been proposed or suggested."

John Adams

First Inaugural Address

March 04, 1797

Pretenders

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."

~George Washington; Farewell Address, September 17, 1796

Slow But Sure

"Delay is preferable to error."

~Thomas Jefferson; letter to George Washington, 1792

Show the World

"Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."

~George Washington; New York, 1776

Just Powers

"Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

~Thomas Jefferson; Declaration of Independence

Fatigue

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

~Thomas Paine; The American Crisis No. 4; September 1777

Capital

"Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.

~Thomas Jefferson

Circulating Library

"Nothing would do more extensive good at small expense than the establishment of a small circulating library."

~Thomas Jefferson

Light Reading

"Light reading(by this I mean books of little importance) may amuse for the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind."

~George Washington

Good Books

"Read good books because they will encourage as well as direct your feelings."

~Thomas Jefferson

Contributions

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

~Thomas Jefferson

Learning Filial Duty

"A lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics, and divinity, than ever were written."

~Thomas Jefferson

Knowledge

"A knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built."

~George Washington

Weakness and Imperfection

"No man is entirely free from weakness and imperfection in this life. Men of the most exalted genius and active minds are generally most perfect slaves to the love of fame. They sometimes descend to as mean tricks and artifices in pursuit of honor or reputation as the miser descends to in pursuit of gold."

~John Adams,diary entry; February 19th, 1756

Leisure and Laziness

“Methinks I hear some of you say, must a man afford himself no leisure? I will tell thee, my friend, what Poor Richard says, employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and, since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never; so that, as Poor Richard says, a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things."

Benjamin Franklin; 1757

On Liberty

"Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment, without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency."

Federalist No. 10 Publius (James Madison)

November 22, 1787

Knowledge is Essential

"Freedom can exist only in the society of Knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal or universal."

Benjamin Rush

An Unjust Government

"That is not a just government, nor is property secure under it, where arbitrary restrictions, exemptions, and monopolies deny to part of its citizens that free use of their faculties, and free choice of their occupations."

“Property” James Madison March 29, 1792