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[a] Republic . . . [is] A Government, In Which The Property Of The Public, Or People, And Of Every One Of Them Was Secure And Protected By Law . . . Implies Liberty; Because Property Cannot Be Secured Unless The Man Be At Liberty To Acquire, Use Or Part With It, At His Discretion, And Unless He Have His Personal Liberty Of Life And Limb, Motion And Rest, For That Purpose.

-John Adams

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[a] Republic . .

John Adams

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[a] Republic . . . [is] A Government, In Which The Property Of The Public, Or People, And Of Every One Of Them Was Secure And Protected By Law . . . Implies Liberty; Because Property Cannot Be Secured Unless The Man Be At Liberty To Acquire, Use Or Part With It, At His Discretion, And Unless He Have His Personal Liberty Of Life And Limb, Motion And Rest, For That Purpose.

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It Will Be Celebrated... With Pomp And Parade... Bonfires And Illuminations From One End Of This Continent To The Other.

I Will Insist That The Hebrews Have Done More To Civilize Man Than Any Other Nation.

It Already Appears, That There Must Be In Every Society Of Men Superiors And Inferiors, Because God Has Laid In The Constitution And Course Of Nature The Foundations Of The Distinction.

I Didn't Grow Up Imagining Myself As An Opera Composer. Only Once In My Entire Adolescence Did I Attend An Opera. I Went And Saw Aida At The Old Met, Didn't Understand A Thing About It, And Thought It Was Pretty Awful. But I Think I Had It In My Genes Without Even Realising It.

I Have Long Been Settled In My Own Opinion That Neither Philosophy, Nor Religion, Nor Morality, Nor Wisdom, Nor Interest, Will Ever Govern Nations Or Parties, Against Their Vanity, Their Pride, Their Resentment, Or Revenge, Or Their Avarice, Or Ambition. Nothing But Force And Power And Strength Can Restrain Them.

I Have Examined All Religions, As Well As My Narrow Sphere, My Straightened Means, And My Busy Life, Would Allow; And The Result Is That The Bible Is The Best Book In The World. It Contains More Philosophy Than All The Libraries I Have Seen.

We May... Affirm That The Balance Of Power In A Society Accompanies The Balance Of Property In Land. The Only Possible Way, Then, Of Preserving The Balance Of Power On The Side Of Liberty And Public Virtue Is To Make The Acquisition Of Land Easy To Every Member Of Society; To Make A Division Of The Land Into Small Quantities, So That The Multitude May Be Possessed Of Landed Estates.

An Honest, Sensible, Humane Man, . . . Laboring To Do Good Rather Than Be Rich, To Be Useful Rather Than Make A Show, Living In Modest Simplicity . . . Is Really The Most Respectable Man In Society, [and] Makes Himself And All About Him Most Happy.

The Study And Practice Of Law ... Does Not Dissolve The Obligations Of Morality Or Of Religion.

Tis Impossible To Judge With Much Præcision Of The True Motives And Qualities Of Human Actions, Or Of The Propriety Of Rules Contrived To Govern Them, Without Considering With Like Attention, All The Passions, Appetites, Affections In Nature From Which They Flow. An Intimate Knowledge Therefore Of The Intellectual And Moral World Is The Sole Foundation On Which A Stable Structure Of Knowledge Can Be Erected.

Nip The Shoots Of Arbitrary Power In The Bud, Is The Only Maxim Which Can Ever Preserve The Liberties Of Any People. When The People Give Way, Their Deceivers, Betrayers And Destroyers Press Upon Them So Fast That There Is No Resisting Afterwards. The Nature Of The Encroachments Is To, Grow Every Day More Encroaching; Like A Cancer, It Eats Faster And Faster Every Hour.

This Would Be The Best Of All Possible Worlds, If There Were No Religion In It.

If There Is A God

The Right Of A Nation To Kill A Tyrant In Case Of Necessity Can No More Be Doubted Than To Hang A Robber, Or Kill A Flea.

Banks Have Done More Injury To The Religion, Morality, Tranquility, Prosperity, And Even Wealth Of The Nation Than They Can Have Done Or Ever Will Do Good.

Power Must Never Be Trusted Without A Check.

The Only Way To Form An Army To Be Confided In, Was A Systematic Discipline, By Which Means All Men May Be Made Heroes.

Several Country Towns, Within My Observation, Have At Least A Dozen Taverns. Here The Time, The Money, The Health And The Modesty, Of Most That Are Young And Of Many Old, Are Wasted. Here Diseases, Vicious Habits, Bastards And Legislators Are Frequently Spawned.

Power In Any Form . . . When Directed Only By Human Wisdom And Benevolence Is Dangerous.

Shall We Have Recourse To The Art Of Printing? But This Has Not Destroyed Property Or Aristocracy Or Corporations Or Paper Wealth In England Or America, Or Diminished The Influence Of Either; On The Contrary, It Has Multiplied Aristocracy And Diminished Democracy.

My Country Has Contrived For Me The Most Insignificant Office That Ever The Invention Of Man Contrived Or His Imagination Conceived.

No Good Government But What Is Republican... The Very Definition Of A Republic Is 'an Empire Of Laws, And Not Of Men.'

There Never Was Yet A People Who Must Not Have Somebody Or Something To Represent The Dignity Of The State, The Majesty Of The People, Call It What You Will - A Doge, An Avoyer, An Archon, A President, A Consul, A Syndic; This Becomes At Once An Object Of Ambition And Dispute, And, In Time, Of Division, Faction, Sedition, And Rebellion.

Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.

Elections To Office, Which Are The Great Objects Of Ambition, I Look At With Terror!

Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without General Knowledge Among The People.

The Truth Is That Neither Then Nor At Any Former Time, Since I Had Attained My Maturity In Age, Reading And Reflection Had I Imbibed Any General Prejudice Against Kings, Or In Favour Of Them. It Appeared To Me Then As It Has Done Ever Since, That There Is A State Of Society In Which A Republican Government Is The Best, And In America The Only One.

A Single Assembly Is Liable To All The Vices, Follies, And Frailties Of An Individual; Subject To Fits Of Humor, Starts Of Passion, Flights Of Enthusiasm, Partialities, Or Prejudice, And Consequently Productive Of Hasty Results And Absurd Judgments. And All These Errors Ought To Be Corrected And Defects Supplied By Some Controlling Power.

Property Must Be Secured Or Liberty Cannot Exist. But If Unlimited Or Unbalanced Power Of Disposing Property, Be Put Into The Hands Of Those Who Have No Property, France Will Find, As We Have Found, The Lamb Committed To The Custody Of The World. In Such A Case, All The Pathetic Exhortations And Addresses Of The National Assembly To The People, To Respect Property, Will Be Regarded No More Than The Warbles Of The Songsters Of The Forest.

Mr. Jefferson Has Reason To Reflect Upon Himself. How He Will Get Rid Of His Remorse In His Retirement, I Know Not. He Must Know That He Leaves The Government Infinitely Worse Than He Found It, And That From His Own Error Or Ignorance.

It's Of More Importance To Community That Innocence Should Be Protected Than It Is That Guilt Should Be Punished

Our Whole System Of Banks Is A Violation Of Every Honest Principle Of Banks. There Is No Honest Bank But A Bank Of Deposit. A Bank That Issues Paper At Interest Is A Pickpocket Or A Robber. But The Delusion Will Have Its Course. ... An Aristocracy Is Growing Out Of Them That Will Be As Fatal As The Feudal Barons If Unchecked In Time.

Can A Free Government Possibly Exist With The Roman Catholic Religion?

Catholic Religion

The Hebrews Have Done More To Civilize Men Than Any Other Nation. If I Were An Atheist, And Believed Blind Eternal Fate, I Should Still Believe That Fate Had Ordained The Jews To Be The Most Essential Instrument For Civilizing The Nations.

I Wish I Could Lay Down Beside Her And Die Too.

The Happiness Of Man, As Well As His Dignity, Consists In Virtue.

I Shall Have The Liberty To Think For Myself.

Before Any Great Things Are Accomplished, A Memorable Change Must Be Made In The System Of Education...to Raise The Lower Ranks Of Society Nearer To The Higher.

The Destiny Of America Is To Carry The Gospel Of Jesus Christ To All Men Everywhere.

There Are Two Ways To Conquer And Enslave A Country. One Is By The Sword. The Other Is By Debt.

Slavery Is A Foul Contagion In The Human Character.

Everything In Life Should Be Done With Reflection.

He Is Too Illiterate, Unread, Unlearned For His Station And Reputation.

[i] Never Understood [what A Republican Government Was And] I Believe No Other Man Ever Did Or Ever Will.

[a] Republic . . . [is] A Government, In Which The Property Of The Public, Or People, And Of Every One Of Them Was Secure And Protected By Law . . . Implies Liberty; Because Property Cannot Be Secured Unless The Man Be At Liberty To Acquire, Use Or Part With It, At His Discretion, And Unless He Have His Personal Liberty Of Life And Limb, Motion And Rest, For That Purpose.

To Be Good, And To Do Good, Is All We Have To Do.

Public Affairs Go On Pretty Much As Usual: Perpetual Chicanery And Rather More Personal Abuse Than There Used To Be.

The Law No Passion Can Disturb. 'tis Void Of Desire And Fear, Lust And Anger. 'tis Mens Sine Affectu, Written Reason, Retaining Some Measure Of The Divine Perfection. It Does Not Enjoin That Which Pleases A Weak, Frail Man, But, Without Any Regard To Persons, Commands That Which Is Good And Punishes Evil In All, Whether Rich Or Poor, High Or Low.

When Philosophic Reason Is Clear And Certain By Intuition Or Necessary Induction, No Subsequent Revelation Supported By Prophecies Or Miracles Can Supersede It.

There Are Only Two Creatures Of Value On The Face Of The Earth: Those With The Commitment, And Those Who Require The Commitment Of Others.

I Do Not Like The Reappearance Of The Jesuits... Nevertheless, We Are Compelled By Our System Of Religious Toleration To Offer Them An Asylum.

We Shall, By And By, Want A World Of Hemp More For Our Own Consumption.

If "thou Shalt Not Covet," And "thou Shalt Not Steal," Were Not Commandments Of Heaven, They Must Be Made Inviolable Precepts In Every Society, Before It Can Be Civilized Or Made Free.

The Die Is Cast. The People Have Passed The River And Cut Away The Bridge. Last Night Three Cargoes Of Tea Were Emptied Into The Harbor. This Is The Grandest Event Which Has Ever Yet Happened Since The Controversy With Britain Opened.

A Constitution Founded On These Principles Introduces Knowledge Among The People, And Inspires Them With A Conscious Dignity Becoming Freemen; A General Emulation Takes Place, Which Causes Good Humor, Sociability, Good Manners, And Good Morals To Be General. That Elevation Of Sentiment Inspired By Such A Government, Makes The Common People Brave And Enterprising. That Ambition Which Is Inspired By It Makes Them Sober, Industrious, And Frugal.

As Good Government Is An Empire Of Laws, How Shall Your Laws Be Made? In A Large Society, Inhabiting An Extensive Country, It Is Impossible That The Whole Should Assemble To Make Laws. The First Necessary Step, Then, Is To Depute Power From The Many To A Few Of The Most Wise And Good.

The Holy Ghost Carries On The Whole Christian System In This Earth. Not A Baptism, Not A Marriage, Not A Sacrament Can Be Administered But By The Holy Ghost... There Is No Authority Civil Or Religious: There Can Be No Legitimate Government But What Is Administered By This Holy Ghost. There Can Be No Salvation Without It. All, Without It Is Rebellion And Perdition, Or In More Orthodox Words Damnation.

Rulers Are No More Than Attorneys, Agents, And Trustees, For The People; And If The Cause, The Interest And Trust, Is Insidiously Betrayed, Or Wantonly Trifled Away, The People Have A Right To Revoke The Authority That They Themselves Have Deputed, And To Constitute Abler And Better Agents, Attorneys, And Trustees.

. . . Thirteen Governments [of The Original States] Thus Founded On The Natural Authority Of The People Alone, Without A Pretence Of Miracle Or Mystery, And Which Are Destined To Spread Over The Northern Part Of That Whole Quarter Of The Globe, Are A Great Point Gained In Favor Of The Rights Of Mankind.

Fear Is The Foundation Of Most Governments; But It Is So Sordid And Brutal A Passion, And Renders Men In Whose Breasts It Predominates So Stupid And Miserable, That Americans Will Not Be Likely To Approve Of Any Political Institution Which Is Founded On It.

They Worry One Another Like Mastiffs, Scrambling For Rank And Pay Like Apes For Nuts.

You Will Think Me Transported With Enthusiasm But I Am Not. — I Am Well Aware Of The Toil And Blood And Treasure, That It Will Cost Us To Maintain This Declaration, And Support And Defend These States. — Yet Through All The Gloom I Can See The Rays Of Ravishing Light And Glory. I Can See That The End Is More Than Worth All The Means. And That Posterity Will Tryumph In That Days Transaction, Even Altho We Should Rue It, Which I Trust In God We Shall Not.

There Exists, I Believe, Throughout The Whole Christian World, A Law Which Makes It Blasphemy To Deny Or Doubt The Divine Inspiration Of All The Books Of The Old And New Testaments, From Genesis To Revelations. In Most Countries Of Europe It Is Punished By Fire At The Stake, Or The Rack, Or The Wheel... Now, What Free Inquiry, When A Writer Must Surely Encounter The Risk Of Fine Or Imprisonment For Adducing Any Argument For Investigating The Divine Authority Of Those Books?

Honor Is Truly Sacred, But Holds A Lower Rank In The Scale Of Moral Excellence Than Virtue. Indeed The Former Is Part Of The Latter, And Consequently Has Not Equal Pretensions To Support A Frame Of Government Productive Of Human Happiness.

I Am For Making Of Terms Annual, And For Sending An Entire New Set Every Year.

You Are A Virginian, And A Virginian Ought To Appear At The Head Of This Business. I Am Obnoxious, Suspected And Unpopular; You Are Very Much Otherwise. And You Can Write Ten Times Better Than I Can.

To Believe All Men Honest Is Folly. To Believe None Is Something Worse.

The Way To Secure Liberty Is To Place It In The People's Hands, That Is, To Give Them The Power At All Times To Defend It In The Legislature And In The Courts Of Justice.

As To The History Of The Revolution, My Ideas May Be Peculiar, Perhaps Singular. What Do We Mean By The Revolution? The War? That Was No Part Of The Revolution; It Was Only An Effect And Consequence Of It. The Revolution Was In The Minds Of The People, And This Was Effected From 1760 To 1775, In The Course Of Fifteen Years, Before A Drop Of Blood Was Shed At Lexington.

The Form Of Government Which Communicates Ease, Comfort, Security, Or, In One Word, Happiness, To The Greatest Number Of Persons, And In The Greatest Degree, Is The Best.

What Havoc Has Been Made Of Books Through Every Century Of The Christian Era? Where Are Fifty Gospels, Condemned As Spurious By The Bull Of Pope Gelasius? Where Are The Forty Wagon-loads Of Hebrew Manuscripts Burned In France, By Order Of Another Pope, Because Suspected Of Heresy? Remember The 'index Expurgatorius', The Inquisition, The Stake, The Axe, The Halter And The Guillotine.

Property Monopolized Or In The Possession Of A Few Is A Curse To Mankind.

Oh! The Wisdom, The Foresight And The Hindsight And The Rightsight And The Leftsight, The Northsight And The Southsight, And The Eastsight And The Westsight That Appeared In That August Assembly.

When The Congress First Met, Mr. Cushing Made A Motion That It Should Be Opened With Prayer . . . Mr. Samuel Adams Arose And Said He Was No Bigot, And Could Hear A Prayer From A Gentleman Of Piety And Virtue, Who Was At The Same Time A Friend To His Country. He . . . Had Heard That Mr. Duche . . . Deserved That Character And Therefore He Moved That Mr. Duche . . . Might Be Desired To Read Prayers To The Congress . . . . After (he Read Several Prayers), Mr. Duche, Unexpected To Everybody, Struck Out Into An Extemporary Prayer, Which Filled The Bosom Of Every Man Present.

Without Religion This World Would Be Something Not Fit To Be Mentioned In Polite Company, I Mean Hell.

Laws For The Liberal Education Of Youth, Especially Of The Lower Class Of People, Are So Extremely Wise And Useful, That, To A Humane And Generous Mind, No Expense For This Purpose Would Be Thought Extravagant.

Be Not Intimidated... Nor Suffer Yourselves To Be Wheedled Out Of Your Liberties By Any Pretense Of Politeness, Delicacy, Or Decency. These, As They Are Often Used, Are But Three Different Names For Hypocrisy, Chicanery And Cowardice.

The People, When They Have Been Unchecked, Have Been As Unjust, Tyrannical, Brutal, Barbarous, And Cruel, As Any King Or Senate Possessed Of Uncontrollable Power. The Majority Has Eternally, And Without One Exception, Usurped Over The Rights Of The Minority.

I Was Very Strenuous For Retaining And Insisting On It [law Of Nature], As A Resource To Which We Might Be Driven By Parliament Much Sooner Than We Were Aware.

Mr. Adams, Describing A Conversation With Jonathan Sewall In 1774, Says: "i Answered That The Die Was Now Cast; I Had Passed The Rubicon. Swim Or Sink, Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish With My Country Was My Unalterable Determination."

What Havoc, Said I To Myself, Would These Manners Make In America! Our Governors, Our Judges, Our Senators Or Representatives, And Even Our Ministers, Would Be Appointed By Harlots, For Money; And Their Judgments, Decrees, And Decisions, Be Sold To Repay Themselves, Or, Perhaps, To Procure The Smiles Of Profligate Females.

The Whole Drama Of The World Is Such Tragedy That I Am Weary Of The Spectacle.

The Divinity Of Jesus Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity. Nowhere In The Gospels Do We Find A Precept For Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, And Whole Carloads Of Other Foolish Trumpery That We Find In Christianity.

When People Talk Of The Freedom Of Writing, Speaking Or Thinking I Cannot Choose But Laugh. No Such Thing Ever Existed. No Such Thing Now Exists; But I Hope It Will Exist. But It Must Be Hundreds Of Years After You And I Shall Write And Speak No More.

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?

There Is Something Very Unnatural And Odious In A Government A Thousand Leagues Off. A Whole Government Of Our Own Choice, Managed By Persons Whom We Love, Revere, And Can Confide In, Has Charms In It For Which Men Will Fight.

Let Them Revere Nothing But Religion, Morality And Liberty.

Founding Fathers Religion

The Dons, The Bashaws, The Grandees, The Patricians, The Sachems, The Nabobs, Call Them By What Names You Please, Sigh And Groan And Fret, And Sometimes Stamp And Foam And Curse, But All In Vain. The Decree Is Gone Forth, And It Cannot Be Recalled, That A More Equal Liberty Than Has Prevailed In Other Parts Of The Earth Must Be Established In America.

Mankind Will In Time Discover That Unbridled Majorities Are As Tyrannical And Cruel As Unlimited Despots.

Libertarian Party

As The Government Of The United States Is Not, In Any Sense, Founded On The Christian Religion; As It Has In Itself No Character Of Enmity Against The Laws, Religion Or Tranquility Of Musselmen [muslims] ... It Is Declared ... That No Pretext Arising From Religious Opinion Shall Ever Product An Interruption Of The Harmony Existing Between The Two Countries.... The United States Is Not A Christian Nation Any More Than It Is A Jewish Or A Mohammedan Nation.

The Essence Of A Free Government Consists In An Effectual Control Of Rivalries.

In Days Of Yore, The Poet's Pen From Wing Of Bird Was Plunder'd, Perhaps Of Goose, But Now And Then, From Jove's Own Eagle Sunder'd. But Now, Metallic Pens Disclose Alone The Poet's Numbers; In Iron Inspiration Glows, Or With The Poet Slumbers.

Yesterday, The Greatest Question Was Decided Which Ever Was Debated In America; And A Greater Perhaps Never Was, Nor Will Be, Decided Among Men. A Resolution Was Passed Without One Dissenting Colony, That Those United Colonies Are, And Of Right Ought To Be, Free And Independent States.

We Cannot Insure Success, But We Can Deserve It.

The Real Fabric Of American Society Is Not All Those Flags You See On People's Cars...it's In The Bill Of Rights And In Our Constitutional Form Of Government.

To Suppose Arms In The Hands Of Citizens, To Be Used At Individual Discretion, Except In Private Self-defense, Or By Partial Orders Of Towns, Counties Or Districts Of A State, Is To Demolish Every Constitution, And Lay The Laws Prostrate, So That Liberty Can Be Enjoyed By No Man; It Is A Dissolution Of The Government. The Fundamental Law Of The Militia Is, That It Be Created, Directed And Commanded By The Laws, And Ever For The Support Of The Laws.

As The Safety And Prosperity Of Nations Ultimately And Essentially Depend On The Protection And The Blessing Of Almighty God, And The National Acknowledgment Of This Truth Is Not Only An Indispensable Duty Which The People Owe To Him.

Swim Or Sink, Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish With My Country Was My Unalterable Determination.

You May Have The Bishop Pair But I Have The Ultimate Advantage; I Am The Better Player!

I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessing On This House, And On All That Shall Hereafter Inhabit It. May None But Honest And Wise Men Ever Rule Under This Roof!

Without Wishing To Damp The Ardor Of Curiosity Or Influence The Freedom Of Inquiry, I Will Hazard A Prediction That, After The Most Industrious And Impartial Researchers, The Longest Liver Of You All Will Find No Principles, Institutions Or Systems Of Education More Fit In General To Be Transmitted To Your Posterity Than Those You Have Received From Your Ancestors.

The Only Thing Most People Do Better Than Anyone Else Is Read Their Own Handwriting.

Griefs Upon Griefs! Disappointments Upon Disappointments. What Then? This Is A Gay, Merry World Notwithstanding.

Here Is Everything Which Can Lay Hold Of The Eye, Ear And Imagination - Everything Which Can Charm And Bewitch The Simple And Ignorant. I Wonder How Luther Ever Broke The Spell.

Every Measure Of Prudence, Therefore, Ought To Be Assumed For The Eventual Total Extirpation Of Slavery From The United States ... I Have, Throughout My Whole Life, Held The Practice Of Slavery In ... Abhorrence.

The Question Before The Human Race Is, Whether The God Of Nature Shall Govern The World By His Own Laws, Or Whether Priests And Kings Shall Rule It By Fictitious Miracles? Or, In Other Words, Whether Authority Is Originally In The People? Or Whether It Has Descended For 1800 Years In A Succession Of Popes And Bishops, Or Brought Down From Heaven By The Holy Ghost In The Form Of A Dove, In A Phial Of Holy Oil?

Where Annual Elections End, There Slavery Begins ... Humility, Patience, And Moderation, Without Which Every Man In Power Becomes A Ravenous Beast Of Prey.

[t]he Liberty, The Unalienable, Indefeasible Rights Of Men, The Honor And Dignity Of Human Nature, The Grandeur And Glory Of The Public, And The Universal Happiness Of Individuals, Were Never So Skillfully And Successfully Consulted As In That Most Excellent Monument Of Human Art, The Common Law Of England.

And Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without A General Knowledge Among The People Who Have A Right From The Frame Of Their Nature To Knowledge, As Their Great Creator Who Does Nothing In Vain, Has Given Them Understandings And A Desire To Know. But Besides This They Have A Right, An Indisputable, Unalienable, Indefeasible Divine Right To The Most Dreaded And Envied Kind Of Knowledge, I Mean Of The Characters And Conduct Of Their Rulers.

The Divine Science Of Government Is The Science Of Social Happiness, And The Blessings Of Society Depend Entirely On The Constitutions Of Government.

Public Virtue Cannot Exist In A Nation Without Private, And Public Virtue Is The Only Foundation Of Republics.

Each Individual Of The Society Has A Right To Be Protected By It In The Enjoyment Of His Life, Liberty, And Property, According To Standing Laws.

This Is My Religion ... Joy And Exaltation In My Own Existence ... So Go Ahead And Snarl ... Bite ... Howl, You Calvinistic Divines And All You Who Say I Am No Christian. I Say You Are Not Christian.

If We Take A Survey Of The Greatest Actions...in The World...we Shall Find The Authors Of Them All To Have Been Persons Whose Brains Had Been Shaken Out Of Their Natural Position.

Property Is Surely A Right Of Mankind As Real As Liberty. Perhaps, At First, Prejudice, Habit, Shame Or Fear, Principle Or Religion, Would Restrain The Poor From Attacking The Rich, And The Idle From Usurping On The Industrious; But The Time Would Not Be Long Before Courage And Enterprise Would Come, And Pretexts Be Invented By Degrees, To Countenance The Majority In Dividing All The Property Among Them, Or At Least, In Sharing It Equally With Its Present Possessors.

That The Desires Of The Majority Of The People Are Often For Injustice And Inhumanity Against The Minority, Is Demonstrated By Every Page Of The History Of The World.

National Defense Is One Of The Cardinal Duties Of A Statesman, And That There Is An Obligation To Perform Such A Duty Absolutely Irrespective Of Party Politics Or Factional Differences.

I Sometimes, In My Sprightly Moments, Consider Myself, In My Great Chair At School, As Some Dictator At The Head Of A Commonwealth. In This Little State I Can Discover All The Great Geniuses, All The Surprising Actions And Revolutions Of The Great World In Miniature. I Have Several Renowned Generals But Three Feet High, And Several Deep-projecting Politicians In Petticoats. I Have Others Catching And Dissecting Flies, Accumulating Remarkable Pebbles, Cockleshells, Etc., With As Ardent Curiosity As Any Virtuoso In The Royal Society.

Abuse Of Words Has Been The Great Instrument Of Sophistry And Chicanery, Of Party, Faction, And Division Of Society.

Unnecessary War

Government Is Nothing More Than The Combined Force Of Society, Or The United Power Of The Multitude, For The Peace, Order, Safety, Good And Happiness Of The People.

The Rich, The Well-born, And The Able, Acquire An Influence Among The People That Will Soon Be Too Much For Simple Honesty And Plain Sense, In A House Of Representatives. The Most Illustrious Of Them Must, Therefore, Be Separated From The Mass, And Placed By Themselves In A Senate; This Is, To All Honest And Useful Intents, An Ostracism.

The General Principles On Which The Fathers Achieved Independence Were The General Principles Of Christianity. I Will Avow That I Then Believed, And Now Believe, That Those General Principles Of Christianity Are As Eternal And Immutable As The Existence And Attributes Of God.

When You See A Good Move, Sit On Your Hands And Find A Better One.

Liberty Can No More Exist Without Virtue And Independence Than The Body Can Live And Move Without A Soul.

My History Of The Jesuits Is In Four Volumes.... This Society Has Been A Greater Calamity To Mankind Than The French Revolution, Or Napoleon's Despotism Or Ideology. It Has Obstructed Progress Of Reformation And The Improvement Of The Human Mind In Society Much Longer And More Fatally.

As Long As Property Exists, It Will Accumulate In Individuals And Families. As Long As Marriage Exists, Knowledge, Property And Influence Will Accumulate In Families.

A Government Of Laws, And Not Of Men.

The Moment The Idea Is Admitted Into Society That Property Is Not As Sacred As The Law Of God, And That There Is Not A Force Of Law And Public Justice To Protect It, Anarchy And Tyranny Commence.

Those Who Trade Liberty For Security Have Neither.

Historically, Usury Was Defined As Any Interest Whatever On An Unproductive Loan.our Whole Banking System I Have Ever Abhorred, I Continue To Abhor, And I Shall Die Abhorring.

Tacitus Appears To Have Been As Great An Enthusiast As Petrarch For The Revival Of The Republic And Universal Empire. He Has Exerted The Vengeance Of History Upon The Emperors, But Has Veiled The Conspiracies Against Them, And The Incorrigible Corruption Of The People Which Probably Provoked Their Most Atrocious Cruelties. Tyranny Can Scarcely Be Practised Upon A Virtuous And Wise People.

Upon This Point All Speculative Politicians Will Agree, That The Happiness Of Society Is The End Of Government, As All Divines And Moral Philosophers Will Agree That The Happiness Of The Individual Is The End Of Man. From This Principle It Will Follow That The Form Of Government Which Communicates Ease, Comfort, Security, Or, In One Word, Happiness, To The Greatest Numbers Of Persons, And In The Greatest Degree, Is The Best. All Sober Inquirers After Truth, Ancient And Modern, Pagan And Christian, Have Declared That The Happiness Of Man, As Well As His Dignity, Consists In Virtue.

The United States Is Not A Christian Nation Any More Than It Is A Jewish Or A Mohammedan Nation.

A Native Of America Who Cannot Read Or Write Is . . . As Rare As A Comet Or An Earthquake.

Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude.

All Great Changes Are Irksome To The Human Mind, Especially Those Which Are Attended With Great Dangers And Uncertain Effects.

I Pray Heaven To Bestow The Best Of Blessings On This House And On All That Shall Hereafter Inhabit It. May None But Honest And Wise Men Ever Rule Under This Roof.

Major Greene This Evening Fell Into Some Conversation With Me About The Divinity And Satisfaction Of Jesus Christ. All The Argument He Advanced Was, "that A Mere Creature Or Finite Being Could Not Make Satisfaction To Infinite Justice For Any Crimes," And That "these Things Are Very Mysterious." Thus Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.

Property Is Surely A Right Of Mankind As Real As Liberty.

There Is Nothing I Dread So Much As The Division Of The Republic Into Two Great Parties, Each Arranged Under Its Leader, And Concerting Measures In Opposition To Each Other. This, In My Humble Apprehension, Is To Be Dreaded As The Greatest Political Evil Under Our Constitution.

The Only Foundation Of A Free Constitution, Is Pure Virtue, And If This Cannot Be Inspired Into Our People, In A Great Measure, Than They Have It Now. They May Change Their Rulers, And The Forms Of Government, But They Will Not Obtain A Lasting Liberty.

Always Stand On Principle Even If You Stand Alone.

The Consequences Arising From The Continual Accumulation Of Public Debts In Other Countries Ought To Admonish Us To Prevent Their Growth In Our Own.

The Numbers Of Men In All Ages Have Preferred Ease, Slumber, And Good Cheer To Liberty, When They Have Been In Competition.

Riches Attract Attention, Consideration, And Congratulations Of Mankind.

Congratulations

Children Should Be Educated And Instructed In The Principles Of Freedom. Aristotle Speaks Plainly To This Purpose, Saying, 'that The Institution Of Youth Should Be Accommodated To That Form Of Government Under Which They Live; Forasmuch As It Makes Exceedingly For The Preservation Of The Present Government, Whatsoever It Be.

One Useless Man Is A Shame, Two Is A Law Firm, And Three Is A Congress.

Set Before Us The Conduct Of Our Own British Ancestors, Who Defended For Us The Inherent Rights Of Mankind Against Foreign And Domestic Tyrants And Usurpers, Against Arbitrary Kings And Cruel Priests; In Short Against The Gates Of Earth And Hell.

July 4th Ought To Be Commemorated As The Day Of Deliverance By Solemn Acts Of Devotion.

Declaration Of Independence

Power Always Thinks... That It Is Doing God's Service When It Is Violating All His Laws.

But A Constitution Of Government Once Changed From Freedom, Can Never Be Restored. Liberty, Once Lost, Is Lost Forever.

The Question Before The Human Race Is, Whether The God Of Nature Shall Govern The World By His Own Laws, Or Whether Priests And Kings Shall Rule It By Fictitious Miracles?

The True Source Of Our Sufferings Has Been Our Timidity.

It Should Be Your Care, Therefore, And Mine, To Elevate The Minds Of Our Children And Exalt Their Courage; To Accelerate And Animate Their Industry And Activity; To Excite In Them An Habitual Contempt Of Meanness, Abhorrence Of Injustice And Inhumanity, And An Ambition To Excel In Every Capacity, Faculty, And Virtue. If We Suffer Their Minds To Grovel And Creep In Infancy, They Will Grovel All Their Lives.

All Sober Inquirers After Truth, Ancient And Modern, Pagan And Christian, Have Declared That The Happiness Of Man, As Well As His Dignity, Consists In Virtue.

Resistance To Sudden Violence, For The Preservation Not Only Of My Person, My Limbs, And Life, But Of My Property, Is An Indisputable Right Of Nature Which I Have Never Surrendered To The Public By The Compact Of Society, And Which Perhaps, I Could Not Surrender If I Would.

The Longer I Live, The More I Read, The More Patiently I Think, And The More Anxiously I Inquire, The Less I Seem To Know...do Justly. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly [with Your God]. This Is Enough.

They Shall Not Be Expected To Acknowledge Us Until We Have Acknowledged Ourselves.

I Almost Shudder At The Thought Of Alluding To The Most Fatal Example Of The Abuses Of Grief Which The History Of Mankind Has Preserved - The Cross. Consider What Calamities That Engine Of Grief Has Produced!

Liberty, Once Lost, Is Lost Forever.

It Is Much Easier To Pull Down A Government, In Such A Conjuncture Of Affairs As We Have Seen, Than To Build Up, At Such A Season As The Present.

Here, Every Private Person Is Authorized To Arm Himself, And On The Strength Of This Authority, I Do Not Deny The Inhabitants Had A Right To Arm Themselves At That Time, For Their Defense, Not For Offense.

The Human Understanding Is A Revelation From Its Maker, Which Can Never Be Disputed Or Doubted. There Can Be No Scepticism, Pyrrhonism, Or Incredulity Or Infidelity Here. No Prophecies, No Miracles Are Necessary To Prove This Celestical Communication. This Revelation Has Made It Certain That Two And One Make Three, And That One Is Not Three Nor Can Three Be One. We Can Never Be So Certain Of Any Prophecy, Or The Fulfilment Of Any Prophecy, Or Of Any Miracle, Or The Design Of Any Miracle, As We Are From The Revelation Of Nature, That Is, Nature's God, That Two And Two Are Equal To Four.

The Right Of A Nation To Kill A Tyrant, In Cases Of Necessity, Can No More Be Doubted, Than To Hang A Robber, Or Kill A Flea. But Killing One Tyrant Only Makes Way For Worse, Unless The People Have Sense, Spirit And Honesty Enough To Establish And Support A Constitution Guarded At All Points Against The Tyranny Of The One, The Few, And The Many.

When We Say God Is A Spirit, We Know What We Mean, As Well As We Do When We Say That The Pyramids Of Egypt Are Matter. Let Us Be Content, Therefore, To Believe Him To Be A Spirit, That Is, An Essence That We Know Nothing Of, In Which Originally And Necessarily Reside All Energy, All Power, All Capacity, All Activity, All Wisdom, All Goodness.

The Christian Religion Is, Above All The Religions That Ever Prevailed Or Existed In Ancient Or Modern Times, The Religion Of Wisdom, Virtue, Equity And Humanity.

The Church Of Rome Has Made It An Article Of Faith That No Man Can Be Saved Out Of Their Church, And All Other Religious Sects Approach This Dreadful Opinion In Proportion To Their Ignorance, And The Influence Of Ignorant Or Wicked Priests.

But America Is A Great, Unwieldy Body. Its Progress Must Be Slow. It Is Like A Large Fleet Sailing Under Convoy. The Fleetest Sailors Must Wait For The Dullest And Slowest. Like A Coach And Six-the Swiftest Horses Must Be Slackened And The Slowest Quickened, That All May Keep An Even Pace.

There Is Danger From All Men. The Only Maxim Of A Free Government Ought To Be To Trust No Man Living With Power To Endanger The Public Liberty.

But All Provisions That He (god) Has Made For The Gratification Of Our Senses…are Much Inferior To The Provision, The Wonderful Provision That He Has Made For The Gratification Of Our Nobler Powers Of Intelligence And Reason. He Has Given Us Reason To Find Out The Truth, And The Real Design And True End Of Our Existence.

[l]iberty Must At All Hazards Be Supported. We Have A Right To It, Derived From Our Maker. But If We Had Not, Our Fathers Have Earned And Bought It For Us, At The Expense Of Their Ease, Their Estates, Their Pleasure, And Their Blood.

It May Be The Will Of Heaven That America Shall Suffer Calamities Still More Wasting, And Distresses Yet More Dreadful. If This Is To Be The Case, It Will Have The Good Effect At Least. It Will Inspire Us With Many Virtues, Which We Have Not, And Correct Many Errors, Follies And Vices. But I Must Submit All My Hopes And Fears To An Overruling Providence, In Which, Unfashionable As The Faith May Be, I Firmly Believe.

Power Always Sincerely, Conscientiously, De Très Bon Foi, Believes Itself Right. Power Always Thinks It Has A Great Soul And Vast Views, Beyond The Comprehension Of The Weak.

The Ten Commandments And The Sermon On The Mount Contain My Religion.

Founding Fathers Religion

[i]t Is Religion And Morality Alone Which Can Establish The Principles Upon Which Freedom Can Securely Stand. The Only Foundation Of A Free Constitution Is Pure Virtue.

Vanity, I Am Sensible, Is My Cardinal Vice And Cardinal Folly; And I Am In Continual Danger, When In Company, Of Being Led An Ignis Fatuus Chase By It.

Thomas Jefferson Survives.

I Do Not Like The Reappearance Of The Jesuits.... Shall We Not Have Regular Swarms Of Them Here, In As Many Disguises As Only A King Of The Gipsies Can Assume, Dressed As Printers, Publishers, Writers And Schoolmasters? If Ever There Was A Body Of Men Who Merited Damnation On Earth And In Hell, It Is This Society Of Loyola's. Nevertheless, We Are Compelled By Our System Of Religious Toleration To Offer Them An Asylum.

What A Pity It Is That Our Congress Had Not Known This Discovery, And That Alexander Hamilton’s Projects Of Raising An Army Of Fifty Thousand Men, Ten Thousand Of Them To Be Cavalry And His Projects Of Sedition Laws And Alien Laws And Of New Taxes To Support His Army, All Arose From A Superabundance Of Secretions Which He Could Not Find Whores Enough To Draw Off! And That The Same Vapours Produced His Lyes And Slanders By Which He Totally Destroyed His Party Forever And Finally Lost His Life In The Field Of Honor.

A Taste For Literature And A Turn For Business, United In The Same Person, Never Fails To Make A Great Man.

Suppose A Nation, Rich And Poor, High And Low, Ten Millions In Number, All Assembled Together; Not More Than One Or Two Millions Will Have Lands, Houses, Or Any Personal Property; If We Take Into The Account The Women And Children, Or Even If We Leave Them Out Of The Question, A Great Majority Of Every Nation Is Wholly Destitute Of Property, Except A Small Quantity Of Clothes, And A Few Trifles Of Other Movables.

A Question Arises Whether All The Powers Of Government, Legislative, Executive, And Judicial, Shall Be Left In This Body? I Think A People Cannot Be Long Free, Nor Ever Happy, Whose Government Is In One Assembly.

If National Pride Is Ever Justifiable Or Excusable It Is When It Springs, Not From Power Or Riches, Grandeur Or Glory, But From Conviction Of National Innocence, Information And Benevolence.

But How Has It Happened That Millions Of Fables, Tales, Legends Have Been Blended With Both Jewish And Christian Revelation That Have Made Them The Most Bloody Religion That Ever Existed?

What Other Form Of Government, Indeed, Can So Well Deserve Our Esteem And Love?

You Will Never Be Alone With A Poet In Your Pocket.

I Must Study Politics And War That My Sons May Have Liberty To Study Mathematics And Philosophy.

A Single Assembly Will Never Be A Steady Guardian Of The Laws, If Machiavel Is Right, When He Says, Men Are Never Good But Through Necessity: On The Contrary, When Good And Evil Are Left To Their Choice, They Will Not Fail To Throw Every Thing Into Disorder And Confusion. Hunger And Poverty May Make Men Industrious, But Laws Only Can Make Them Good; For, If Men Were So Of Themselves, There Would Be No Occasion For Laws; But, As The Case Is Far Otherwise, They Are Absolutely Necessary.

Hunger And Poverty

Virtue Is Not Always Amiable.

The Dignity And Stability Of Government In All Its Branches, The Morals Of The People, And Every Blessing Of Society Depend So Much Upon An Upright And Skillful Administration Of Justice, That The Judicial Power Ought To Be Distinct From Both The Legislative And Executive, And Independent Upon Both, That So It May Be A Check Upon Both, As Both Should Be Checks Upon That.

I Never Engaged In Public Affairs For My Own Interest, Pleasure, Envy, Jealousy, Avarice Or Ambition, Or Even The Desire Of Fame

My God! This Is A Revolution! We Have To Offend Someone!

Children Should Be Educated And Instructed In The Principles Of Freedom.

We Should Be Unfaithful To Ourselves If We Should Ever Lose Sight Of The Danger To Our Liberties If Anything Partial Or Extraneous Should Infect The Purity Of Our Free, Fair, Virtuous, And Independent Elections. If An Election Is To Be Determined By A Majority Of A Single Vote, And That Can Be Procured By A Party Through Artifice Or Corruption, The Government May Be The Choice Of A Party For Its Own Ends, Not Of The Nation For The National Good.

Let Justice Be Done Though The Heavens Should Fall.

Old Minds Are Like Old Horses; You Must Exercise Them If You Wish To Keep Them In Working Order.

Neither My Father Or Mother, Grandfather Or Grandmother, Great Grandfather Or Great Grandmother, Nor Any Other Relation That I Know Of, Or Care A Farthing For, Has Been In England These One Hundred And Fifty Years; So That You See I Have Not One Drop Of Blood In My Veins But What Is American.

I Always Consider The Settlement Of America With Reverence And Wonder, As The Opening Of A Grand Scene And Design In Providence, For The Illumination Of The Ignorant And The Emancipation Of The Slavish Part Of Mankind All Over The Earth.

I Request That They May Be Considered In Confidence, Until The Members Of Congress Are Fully Possessed Of Their Contents, And Shall Have Had Opportunity To Deliberate On The Consequences Of Their Publication; After Which Time, I Submit Them To Your Wisdom.

As Unbalanced Parties Of Every Description Can Never Tolerate A Free Inquiry Of Any Kind, When Employed Against Themselves, The License, And Even The Most Temperate Freedom Of The Press, Soon Excite Resentment And Revenge.

I Have Accepted A Seat In The House Of Representatives, And Thereby Have Consented To My Own Ruin, To Your Ruin, And To The Ruin Of Our Children. I Give You This Warning That You May Prepare Your Mind For Your Fate.

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