"It is much to be regretted, however common the case is, that men who possess talents which fit them for peculiar purposes should almost invariably be under the influence of an untoward disposition, or are sottish idle, or possessed of some other disqualification by which they plague all those with whom they are concerned."
~George Washington, letter to David Stuart, Philadelphia, November 20, 1791
"“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God...what a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."
~ John Adams, diary entry for February 22, 1756
"Statesmen may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand."
~John Adams
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than to those attending too small a degree of it."
~Thomas Jefferson
"[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man [Sir William Keith], who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia."
~George Mason, debate in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788
"The Civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, be infringed."
~James Madison; First Draft of the First Amendment
"If Heaven punishes Communities for their Vices, how sore must be the Punishment of that Community who think the Rights of human Nature not worth struggling for and patiently submit to Tyranny."
~John Adams
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."
~ Alexander Hamilton
"The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, They may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies."
~John Adams
"No human society has ever been able to maintain both order and freedom, both cohesiveness and liberty apart from the moral precepts of the Christian religion...Should our Republic ever forget this fundamental precept of government, this great experiment will then be surely doomed."
~John Jay
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world, as well as property...Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."
~Thomas Paine
"The patriot, like the Christian, must learn that to bear revilings and persecutions is a part of his duty; and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command."
~Thomas Jefferson
"It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow."
~James Madison
"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties:
1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes.
2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests.
In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, liberals and serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, Whigs and Tories, Republicans and Federalists, aristocrats and democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still and pursue the same object. The last appellation of aristocrats and democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all."
~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee (August 10, 1824)
“Dependence begets subservience, suffocates...virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.”
~Thomas Jefferson
"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."
~Thomas Jefferson
"A standing military force, with an overgrown executive will not long be safe companions to liberty."
~James Madison
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny here at home."
~James Madison
