High Time

"Is it not High Time for the People of this Country explicitly to declare, whether they will be Freemen or Slaves? It is an important Question which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than any thing in this Life. The Salvation of our Souls is interested in the Event: For wherever Tyranny is establish'd, Immorality of every Kind comes in like a Torrent. It is in the interest of Tyrants to reduce the people to Ignorance and Vice. For they cannot live in any Country where Virtue and Knowledge prevail. The Religion and public Liberty of a People are intimately connected; their Interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this Reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the People's Liberties, practice every Art to poison their Morals. How greatly then does it concern us, at all Events, to put a Stop to the Progress of Tyranny."

Samuel Adams; Boston Gazette October 1772

"Honest Man"

"I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain...the character of an "Honest Man.""

George Washington
Letter to Hamilton; 1788

Virtuous Attachment

"He who is void of virtuous Attachments in private Life, is, or very soon will be void of all Regard for his Country. There is seldom an Instance of a Man guilty of betraying his Country, who had not before lost the Feeling of moral Obligations in his private Connections."

Samuel Adams; Letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775

Acting my Part

"Whether I shall live to rejoice with the Friends of Liberty and Virtue, my fellow laborers in the common cause, is a matter of no consequence. I will endeavor by God's assistance to act my little part well -- to appove myself to him and trust everything which concerns me to His ...all-gracious providence."
-- Samuel Adams, Nov. 7, 1775,... letter to his wife Betsy