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