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

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

Understanding the Quote: "power always thinks... that it is doing god's service when it is..."

This quote by John Adams reflects deeply on the theme of peace. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Peace, War, Thinking, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how John Adams interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About John Adams

John Adams is celebrated for insightful thoughts on peace and war. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Peace
War
Thinking
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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.
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Every Problem Is An Opportunity In Disguise.
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[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.
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Where Annual Elections End, There Slavery Begins ... Humility, Patience, And Moderation, Without Which Every Man In Power Becomes A Ravenous Beast Of Prey.
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Liberty Can No More Exist Without Virtue And Independence Than The Body Can Live And Move Without A Soul.
Moving
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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.
4th Of July
Patriotic
Independent
It Is Weakness Rather Than Wickedness Which Renders Men Unfit To Be Trusted With Unlimited Power.
Men
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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.
Stupid
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Borrowed Eloquence, If It Contains As Good Stuff, Is As Good As Own Eloquence
Stuff
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It Is Not Only The Juror's Right, But His Duty To Find The Verdict According To His Own Best Understanding, Judgment And Conscience, Though In Direct Opposition To The Instruction Of The Court.
War
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Popularity, Next To Virtue And Wisdom, Ought To Be Aimed At; For It Is The Dictate Of Wisdom, And Is Necessary To The Practice Of Virtue Inmost.
Practice
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The Good Of The Governed Is The End, And Rewards And Punishments Are The Means, Of All Government. The Government Of The Supreme And All-perfect Mind, Over All His Intellectual Creation, Is By Proportioning Rewards To Piety And Virtue, And Punishments To Disobedience And Vice. ... The Joys Of Heaven Are Prepared, And The Horrors Of Hell In A Future State, To Render The Moral Government Of The Universe Perfect And Complete. Human Government Is More Or Less Perfect, As It Approaches Nearer Or Diverges Further From An Imitation Of This Perfect Plan Of Divine And Moral Government.
Mean
Punishment
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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.
Party
Humble
Government
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.
Banking
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[i] Never Understood [what A Republican Government Was And] I Believe No Other Man Ever Did Or Ever Will.
Believe
Men
America
There Never Was Yet A People Who Must Not Have Somebody Or Something To Represent The Dignity Of The State.
Government
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Liberty, According To My Metaphysics Is A Self-determining Power In An Intellectual Agent. It Implies Thought And Choice And Power.
Freedom
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Self
If Aristotle, Livy, And Harrington Knew What A Republic Was, The British Constitution Is Much More Like A Republic Than An Empire. They Define A Republic To Be A Government Of Laws, And Not Of Men. If This Definition Is Just, The British Constitution Is Nothing More Or Less Than A Republic, In Which The King Is First Magistrate. This Office Being Hereditary, And Being Possessed Of Such Ample And Splendid Prerogatives, Is No Objection To The Government's Being A Republic, As Long As It Is Bound By Fixed Laws, Which The People Have A Voice In Making, And A Right To Defend.
Kings
Men
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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.
Law
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Ideology Is The Science Of Idiots.
Idiot
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Public Virtue Cannot Exist In A Nation Without Private, And Public Virtue Is The Only Foundation Of Republics. There Must Be A Positive Passion For The Public Good, The Public Interest, Honour, Power And Glory, Established In The Minds Of The People, Or There Can Be No Republican Government, Nor Any Real Liberty: And This Public Passion Must Be Superiour To All Private Passions.
Real
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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.
Christian
Joy
Religion
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.
Strength
Peace
Tyrants
We Have No Government Armed With Power Capable Of Contending With Human Passions Unbridled By Morality And Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge Or Gallantry Would Break The Strongest Cords Of Our Constitution As A Whale Goes Through A Net. Our Constitution Is Designed Only For A Moral And Religious People. It Is Wholly Inadequate For Any Other.
Religious
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The Only Thing Most People Do Better Than Anyone Else Is Read Their Own Handwriting.
People
Handwriting
If The Multitude Is Possessed Of The Balance Of Real Estate, The Multitude Will Have The Balance Of Power, And In That Case The Multitude Will Take Care Of The Liberty, Virtue, And Interest Of The Multitude In All Acts Of Government.
Real
Government
Balance
If There Is Ever An Amelioration Of The Condition Of Mankind, Philosophers, Theologians, Legislators, Politicians And Moralists Will Find That The Regulation Of The Press Is The Most Difficult, Dangerous And Important Problem They Have To Resolve. Mankind Cannot Now Be Governed Without It, Nor At Present With It.
Important
Regulation
Philosopher
Genius Is Sorrow's Child.
Children
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I Shall Have The Liberty To Think For Myself.
Thinking
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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.
Wise
Country
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My Best Wishes, In The Joys, And Festivities, And The Solemn Services Of That Day On Which Will Be Completed The Fiftieth Year From Its Birth, The Independence Of The United States. A Remarkable Epoch In The Annals Of The Human Race, Destined In Future History To Form The Brightest Or The Blackest Page, According To The Use Or The Abuse Of Those Political Institutions By Which They Shall, In Time To Come, Be Shaped By The Human Mind.
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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.
Christian
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Swim Or Sink, Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish With My Country Was My Unalterable Determination.
Country
Determination
Swim
Property Must Be Secured, Or Liberty Cannot Exist.
Liberty
Patriot
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Indeed, Mr. Jefferson, What Could Be Invented To Debase The Ancient Christianism, Which Greeks, Romans, Hebrews And Christian Factions, Above All The Catholics, Have Not Fraudulently Imposed Upon The Public? Miracles After Miracles Have Rolled Down In Torrents, Wave Succeeding Wave In The Catholic Church, From The Council Of Nicea, And Long Before, To This Day.
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As Much As I Converse With Sages And Heroes, They Have Very Little Of My Love And Admiration. I Long For Rural And Domestic Scene, For The Warbling Of Birds And The Prattling Of My Children.
Love
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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.
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As The Happiness Of The People Is The Sole End Of Government, So The Consent Of The People Is The Only Foundation Of It.
Government
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Thanks Be To God, That He Gave Me Stubborness, When I Know I Am Right.
Thanks
Knows
I Would Quarrel With Both Parties, And With Every Individual Of Each, Before I Would Subjugate My Understanding, Or Prostitute My Tongue Or Pen To Either.
Party
Understanding
Tongue
If We Do Not Lay Out Ourselves In The Service Of Mankind Whom Should We Serve?
Inspirational
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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?
Christian
Religious
Faith Religion
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.
Peace
Real
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I Must Study War And Politics So That My Children Shall Be Free To Study Commerce, Agriculture And Other Practicalities, So That Their Children Can Study Painting, Poetry And Other Fine Things.
Children
War
Agriculture
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.
Government
Order
People
The United States Is Not A Christian Nation Any More Than It Is A Jewish Or A Mohammedan Nation.
Christian
Religion
United States
You May Have The Bishop Pair But I Have The Ultimate Advantage; I Am The Better Player!
Player
Bishops
May
But I Must Submit All My Hopes And Fears, To An Overruling Providence, In Which, Unfashionable As The Faith May Be, I Firmly Believe.
Religious
Believe
May
I Consider A Decent Respect For Christianity Among The Best Recommendations For Public Service.
Presidential
Christianity
Public Service
I Do Not Like The Late Resurrection Of The Jesuits. . . . If Ever Any Congregation Of Men Could Merit Eternal Perdition On Earth, And In Hell, According To These Historians, Though, Like Pascal, True Catholics, It Is This Company Of Loyolas.
Men
Catholic
Earth
Farther I Could Find It In My Heart To Wish That You Had Been At The Head Of A Hundred Thousand Israelites . . . & Marching With Them Into Judea & Making A Conquest Of That Country & Restoring Your Nation To The Dominion Of It. For I Really Wish The Jews Again In Judea An Independent Nation.
Country
Independent
Heart
Thomas Jefferson Survives.
Life
Death
Life And Death
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.
Believe
Power
Thinking
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.
Heaven
Politics
Stealing
We Are In The The Very Midst Of A Revolution, The Most Complete, Unexpected And Remarkable Of Any In The History Of Nations.
Revolution
Unexpected
Midst
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.
Inspirational
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Those Who Trade Liberty For Security Have Neither.
Liberty
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We Must Not Then Depend Alone Upon The Love Of Liberty In The Soul Of Man For Its Preservation.
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The World Grows More Enlightened. Knowledge Is More Equally Diffused.
World
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[you Have Rights] Antecedent To All Earthly Governments: Rights, That Cannot Be Repealed Or Restrained By Human Laws; Rights, Derived From The Great Legislator Of The Universe.
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There Is No Good Government But What Is Republican. That The Only Valuable Part Of The British Constitution Is So; For The True Idea Of A Republic Is "an Empire Of Laws, And Not Of Men." That, As A Republic Is The Best Of Governments, So That Particular Arrangement Of The Powers Of Society, Or In Other Words, That Form Of Government Which Is Best Contrived To Secure An Impartial And Exact Execution Of The Law, Is The Best Of Republics.
Men
Law
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I Am For Making Of Terms Annual, And For Sending An Entire New Set Every Year.
Years
Political
Term Limits
The Destiny Of America Is To Carry The Gospel Of Jesus Christ To All Men Everywhere.
Bible
Jesus
Destiny
The Education Here Intended In Not Merely That Of The Children Of The Rich And Noble, But Of Every Rank And Class Of People, Down To The Lowest And The Poorest. It Is Not Too Much To Say That Schools For The Education Of All Should Be Placed At Convenient Distances, And Maintained At The Public Expense.
Education
Children
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Human Passions Unbridled By Morality And Religion...would Break The Stronges Cords Of Our Constitution As A Whale Goes Through A Net.
Passion
Whales
Morality
Nothing Is More Dreaded Than The National Government Meddling With Religion.
Religious
Government
Religion
The Idea Of Infidelity [a Disbelief In The Inspiration Of The Scriptures Or The Divine Origin Of Christianity] Cannot Be Treated With Too Much Resentment Or Too Much Horror. The Man Who Can Think Of It With Patience Is A Traitor In His Heart And Ought To Be Execrated [denounced] As One Who Adds The Deepest Hypocrisy To The Blackest Treason.
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Whenever Serious Art Loses Track Of Its Roots In The Vernacular, Then It Begins To Atrophy.
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By My Physical Constitution I Am But An Ordinary Man ... Yet Some Great Events, Some Cutting Expressions, Some Mean Hypocracies, Have At Times Thrown This Assemblage Of Sloth, Sleep, And Littleness Into Rage Like A Lion.
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Cutting
Have You Considered That System Of Holy Lies And Pious Frauds That Has Raged And Triumphed For 1,500 Years?
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Years
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When Economic Power Became Concentrated In A Few Hands, Then Political Power Flowed To Those Possessors And Away From The Citizens, Ultimately Resulting In An Oligarchy Or Tyranny.
Hands
Political
Citizens
Old Minds Are Like Old Horses; You Must Exercise Them If You Wish To Keep Them In Working Order.
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All The Perplexities, Confusion And Distress In America Arise, Not From Defects In Their Constitution Or Confederation, Not From Want Of Honor Or Virtue, So Much As From The Downright Ignorance Of The Nature Of Coin, Credit And Circulation.
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Money
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The Divine Science Of Government Is The Science Of Social Happiness, And The Blessings Of Society Depend Entirely On The Constitutions Of Government.
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It Will Be Celebrated... With Pomp And Parade... Bonfires And Illuminations From One End Of This Continent To The Other.
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Parades
A Militia Law, Requiring All Men, Or With Very Few Exceptions Besides Cases Of Conscience, To Be Provided With Arms And Ammunition... Is Always A Wise Institution, And, In The Present Circumstances Of Our Country, Indispensable.
Wise
Country
Men
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.
Passion
Errors
Prejudice
One Sailor Will Do Us More Good Than Two Soldiers.
Two
Soldier
Sailor
There Is No Greater Guilt Than The Unneccessary War.
War
Guilt
Greater
Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.
Atheist
Jesus
Faith Religion
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.
Country
Taverns
Dozen
The National Defense Is One Of The Cardinal Duties Of A Statesman.
Defense
Cardinals
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Numberless Have Been The Systems Of Iniquity Contrived By The Great For The Gratification Of This Passion In Themselves; But In None Of Them Were They Ever More Successful Than In The Invention And Establishment Of The Canon And The Feudal Law.
Success
Passion
Law
But Before Any Great Things Are Accomplished, A Memorable Change Must Be Made In The System Of Education And Knowledge Must Become So General As To Raise The Lower Ranks Of Society Nearer To The Higher. The Education Of A Nation, Instead Of Being Confined To A Few Schools & Universities, For The Instruction Of The Few, Must Become The National Care And Expence, For The Information Of The Many.
Education
Money
Memorable
The Study And Practice Of Law ... Does Not Dissolve The Obligations Of Morality Or Of Religion.
Law
Practice
Doe
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.
Inspiration
Iron
Numbers
But A Constitution Of Government Once Changed From Freedom, Can Never Be Restored. Liberty, Once Lost, Is Lost Forever.
Government
Presidential
Forever
Your Letters Concerning Miss N. Have Given Me As Much Concern As They Ought-not Knowing The Character Nor What To Advise, But Feeling All A Fathers Tenderness, Longing To Be At Home That I Might Enquire And Consider And Take The Care I Ought.
Family
Father
Home
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?
Kings
Race
Faith Religion
Let Justice Be Done Though The Heavens Should Fall.
Fall
Bad Ass
Justice
Politics Are A Labyrinth Without A Clue.
Political
Labyrinth
Politics
[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.
Art
Freedom
Men
The Whole Drama Of The World Is Such Tragedy That I Am Weary Of The Spectacle.
Drama
Tragedy
World
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.
Ambition
Government
People
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.
Independent
Blessing
Government
You Are Apprehensive Of Monarchy; I, Of Aristocracy. I Would Therefore Have Given More Power To The President And Less To The Senate.
Power
President
Aristocracy
Government Is Instituted For The Common Good; For The Protection, Safety, Prosperity, And Happiness Of The People; And Not For Profit, Honor, Or Private Interest Of Any One Man, Family, Or Class Of Men; Therefore, The People Alone Have An Incontestable, Unalienable, And Indefeasible Right To Institute Government; And To Reform, Alter, Or Totally Change The Same, When Their Protection, Safety, Prosperity, And Happiness Require It.
Men
Class
Safety
Always Stand On Principle Even If You Stand Alone.
Principles
Politics
Stand Alone
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.
School
Knowledge
Feet
Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without General Knowledge Among The People.
Education
Freedom
Knowledge
We Recognize No Sovereign But God, And No King But Jesus!
Bible
God
Religious
Remember, Democracy Never Lasts Long. It Soon Wastes, Exhausts, And Murders Itself. There Never Was A Democracy Yet That Did Not Commit Suicide.
Suicide
Freedom
Suicidal
There Are Persons Whom In My Heart I Despise, Others I Abhor. Yet I Am Not Obliged To Inform The One Of My Contempt, Nor The Other Of My Detestation. This Kind Of Dissimulation...is A Necessary Branch Of Wisdom, And So Far From Being Immoral...that It Is A Duty And A Virtue.
Heart
Branches
Kind
A Taste For Literature And A Turn For Business, United In The Same Person, Never Fails To Make A Great Man.
Men
Literature
Taste
The Numbers Of Men In All Ages Have Preferred Ease, Slumber, And Good Cheer To Liberty, When They Have Been In Competition.
Cheer
Men
Numbers
It Has Ever Been My Hobby-horse To See Rising In America An Empire Of Liberty, And A Prospect Of Two Or Three Hundred Millions Of Freemen, Without One Noble Or One King Among Them. You Say It Is Impossible. If I Should Agree With You In This, I Would Still Say, Let Us Try The Experiment, And Preserve Our Equality As Long As We Can. A Better System Of Education For The Common People Might Preserve Them Long From Such Artificial Inequalities As Are Prejudicial To Society, By Confounding The Natural Distinctions Of Right And Wrong, Virtue And Vice.
Horse
Kings
Freedom
Thus, Experience Has Ever Shown, That Education, As Well As Religion, Aristocracy, As Well As Democracy And Monarchy, Are, Singly, Totally Inadequate To The Business Of Restraining The Passions Of Men, Of Preserving A Steady Government, And Protecting The Lives, Liberties, And Properties Of The People . . . . Religion, Superstition, Oaths, Education, Laws, All Give Way Before Passions, Interest, And Power, Which Can Be Resisted Only By Passions, Interest, And Power.
Passion
Men
Law
Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude. I Am Therefore Utterly Averse To The Admission Of Slavery Into The Missouri Territory, And Heartily Wish That Every Constitutional Measure May Be Adopted For The Preservation Of It.
Evil
Slavery
Territory
The General Principles On Which The Fathers Achieved Independence Were The General Principles Of Christianity
Father
Independence
Principles
The Fundamental Article Of My Political Creed Is That Despotism, Or Limited Sovereignty, Or Absolute Power Is The Same [whether] In A Majority Of A Popular Assembly; An Aristocratic Council; Or Oligarchical Junto And A Single Emperor - Equally Arbitrary, Cruel, Bloody And In Every Respect Diabolical.
Political
Arbitrary
Fundamentals
Individuals Have Conquered Themselves. Nations And Large Bodies Of Men, Never.
Men
Democracies Have
Body
That The Said Constitution Shall Never Be Construed To Authorize Congress To Infringe The Just Liberty Of The Press Or The Rights Of Conscience.
Gun
Rights
Second Amendment
It Is An Observation Of One Of The Profoundest Inquirers Into Human Affairs That A Revolution Of Government Is The Strongest Proof That Can Be Given By A People Of Their Virtue And Good Sense.
Government
People
Revolution
I Am Well Pleased With What I Hear Of You: The Principal Satisfaction I Can Expect In Life, In Future Will Be In Your Good Behavior And That Of My Other Children. My Hopes From All Of You Are Very Agreable. God Grant, I May Not Be Disappointed.
Family
Children
May
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.
Children
Ambition
Compassion
My Country Has Contrived For Me The Most Insignificant Office That Ever The Invention Of Man Contrived Or His Imagination Conceived.
Country
Men
History
My History Of The Jesuits Is Not Elegantly Written, But Is Supported By Unquestionable Authorities, Is Very Particular And Very Horrible. Their Restoration Is Indeed "a Step Toward Darkness," Cruelty, Perfidy, Despotism, Death And I Wish We Were Out Of Danger Of Bigotry And Jesuitism.
Darkness
Historical
Wish
America Is Destined To Be Peopled By One Nation, Speaking One Language, Professing One General System Of Religious And Political Principles, And Accustomed To One General Tenor Of Social Usages And Customs.
Religious
America
Political
Without Religion This World Would Be Something Not Fit To Be Mentioned In Polite Company, I Mean Hell.
Religious
Mean
Would Be
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.
Kings
Rights
Tyrants
God Is An Essence That We Know Nothing Of. Until This Awful Blasphemy Is Got Rid Of, There Never Will Be Any Liberal Science In The World.
Essence
World
Awful
The Jaws Of Power Are Always Open To Devour, And Her Arm Is Always Stretched Out, If Possible, To Destroy The Freedom Of Thinking, Speaking, And Writing.
Freedom
Writing
Power
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.
Cutting
Night
Bridges
The Executive Shall Never Exercise The Legislative And Judicial Powers, Or Either Of Them, To The End That It May Be A Government Of Laws And Not Of Men.
Exercise
Men
Law
Riches Attract Attention, Consideration, And Congratulations Of Mankind.
Money
Congratulations
Riches
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.
Hands
People
Liberty
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.
Government
Numbers
Society
People And Nations Are Forged In The Fires Of Adversity.
Adversity
Fire
People
The True Source Of Our Sufferings Has Been Our Timidity.
Suffering
Source
Dissertation
Men Must Be Ready, They Must Pride Themselves And Be Happy To Sacrifice Their Private Pleasures, Passions And Interests, Nay, Their Private Friendships And Dearest Connections, When They Stand In Competition With The Rights Of Society.
Passion
Pride
Sacrifice
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.
Bible
God
Religious
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.
Children
Government
Principles
Did You Ever See A Portrait Of A Great Man Without Perceiving Strong Traits Of Pain And Anxiety?
Strong
Pain
Men
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.
Honesty
Simple
People
If Worthless Men Are Sometimes At The Head Of Affairs, It Is, I Believe, Because Worthless Men Are At The Tail And The Middle
Believe
Men
Tails
Arms In The Hands Of Citizens May Be Used At Individual Discretion... In Private Self-defense.
Strength
Peace
Patriotic
I Would Define Liberty To Be A Power To Do As We Would Be Done By. The Definition Of Liberty To Be The Power Of Doing Whatever The Law Permits, Meaning The Civil Laws, Does Not Seem Satisfactory.
Law
Liberty
Doe
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.
Religious
Ignorance
Men
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. What A Utopia! What A Paradise This Region Would Be.
Religious
Book
Law
I Am A Revolutionary, So My Son Can Be A Farmer, So His Son Can Be A Poet.
Son
Revolutionary
Poet
I Shall Have Liberty To Think For Myself Without Molesting Others Or Being Molested Myself.
Thinking
Liberty
Positive Atheism
[j]udges, Therefore, Should Be Always Men Of Learning And Experience In The Laws, Of Exemplary Morals, Great Patience, Calmness, Coolness, And Attention. Their Minds Should Not Be Distracted With Jarring Interests; They Should Not Be Dependent Upon Any Man, Or Body Of Men.
Character
Men
Law
If It Be The Pleasure Of Heaven That My Country Shall Require The Poor Offering Of My Life, The Victim Shall Be Ready, At The Appointed Hour Of Sacrifice, Come When That Hour May. But While I Do Live, Let Me Have A Country, And That A Free Country!
Country
Sacrifice
Offering
I Desire No Other Inscription Over My Gravestone Than: 'here Lies John Adams, Who Took Upon Himself The Responsibility Of Peace With France In The Year 1800'.
Lying
Responsibility
Years
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.
Kings
Reading
Maturity
In Every Society Where Property Exists There Will Ever Be A Struggle Between Rich And Poor. Mixed In One Assembly, Equal Laws Can Never Be Expected; They Will Either Be Made By The Member To Plunder The Few Who Are Rich, Or By The Influence To Fleece The Many Who Are Poor.
Struggle
Law
Influence
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.
Philosophy
Book
Mean
To Be Good, And To Do Good, Is All We Have To Do.
Volunteer
Virtue
Be Good
No Truth Is More Clearly Taught In The Volume Of Inspiration, Nor Any More Fully Demonstrated By The Experience Of All Ages, Than That A Deep Sense And A Due Acknowledgment Of The Governing Providence Of A Supreme Being And The Accountableness Of Men To Him As The Searcher Of Hearts And Righteous Distributor Of Rewards And Punishments Are Conducive Equally To The Happiness And Rectitude Of Individuals And To The Well Being Of Communities.
Inspiration
Heart
Men
Power Always Thinks... That It Is Doing God's Service When It Is Violating All His Laws.
Peace
War
Thinking
Great Is The Guilt Of An Unnecessary War.
Peace
War
History
The Christian Religion As I Understand It Is The Best.
Christian
Religious
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.
Party
Independent
Government
Fear Is The Foundation Of Most Governments.
Fear
Patriotic
Government
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.
Law
Might
Revolution
A Native Of America Who Cannot Read Or Write Is . . . As Rare As A Comet Or An Earthquake.
Education
Writing
America
To Believe All Men Honest Is Folly. To Believe None Is Something Worse.
Believe
Men
Honest
The Universal Object And Idol Of Men Of Letters Is Reputation.
Writing
Men
Idols
When Legislature Is Corrupted, The People Are Undone.
People
Undone
Legislature
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.
War
Mean
Ideas
I Drink No Cider, But Feast On Philadelphia Beer.
Beer
Philadelphia
Cider
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.
Issues
Principles
Aristocracy
A Government Of Laws, And Not Of Men.
Men
Law
Presidential
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.
Country
Prayer
Character
The Public Negotiations And Secret Intrigues Of The English (jews) And The French (jews) Have Been Employed For Centuries In Every Court And Country In Europe. Look Back To The History Of Spain, Holland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Italy And Turkey For The Last Hundred Years...all The Power Of Europe Will Be Continually Maneuvering With Us To Work Us Into The Real Or Imaginary Balance Of Power.
Country
Real
Turkeys
Politics Are The Divine Science, After All.
Divine
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.
Fighting
Men
League
We Hold That Each Man Is The Best Judge Of His Own Interest.
Men
Judging
Interest
The Frightful Engines Of Ecclesiastical Councils, Of Diabolical Malice, And Calvinistical Good-nature Never Failed To Terrify Me Exceedingly Whenever I Thought Of Preaching.
Atheism
Preaching
Malice
Everything In Life Should Be Done With Reflection.
Reflection
Done
Should
A Lawyer Once Told A Jury That The Person His Client Stood Accused Of Having Killed Was About To Walk Through The Courtroom Door. When The Jurors Looked Startled, The Lawyer Asserted That If Those Jurors Had Wondered, Even For One Second That The Victim Might Appear, That Belief Constituted Enough Reasonable Doubt For Them To Find His Client Innocent.
Doors
Law
Doubt
We Shall, By And By, Want A World Of Hemp More For Our Own Consumption.
Weed
Marijuana
World
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.
Revenge
Party
Inquiry
Public Business Must Always Be Done By Somebody. It Will Be Done By Somebody Or Other. If Wise Man Decline, Others Will Not; If Honest Man Refuse It, Others Will Not.
Wise
Men
Done
Ambition Is The Subtlest Beast Of The Intellectual And Moral Field. It Is Wonderfully Adroit In Concealing Itself From Its Owner.
Ambition
Intellectual
Fields
No Good Government But What Is Republican... The Very Definition Of A Republic Is 'an Empire Of Laws, And Not Of Men.'
Men
Law
America
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.
Party
Army
Men
They Worry One Another Like Mastiffs, Scrambling For Rank And Pay Like Apes For Nuts.
Nuts
Worry
Political
Conclude Not From All This That I Have Renounced The Christian Religion. . . . Far From It. I See In Every Page Something To Recommend Christianity In Its Purity, And Something To Discredit Its Corruptions. . . . The Ten Commandments And The Sermon On The Mount Contain My Religion.
Christian
Religion
Pages
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.
People
Democracy
Desire
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.
Voting
Curiosity
Wish
Tom, Had You And I Been 40 Days With Moses, And Beheld The Great God, And Even If God Himself Had Tried To Tell Us That Three Was One ... And One Equals Three, You And I Would Never Have Believed It. We Would Never Fall Victims To Such Lies.
Lying
Fall
Religion
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.
4th Of July
Patriotic
Illumination
The Government Of The United States Of America Has In Itself No Character Of Enmity Against The Laws, Religion Or Tranquility Of Muslims.
Character
Law
America
We Cannot Insure Success, But We Can Deserve It.
Virtue
Parliament
Humankind
[d]emocracy Will Soon Degenerate Into An Anarchy, Such An Anarchy That Every Man Will Do What Is Right In His Own Eyes And No Man's Life Or Property Or Reputation Or Liberty Will Be Secure, And Every One Of These Will Soon Mould Itself Into A System Of Subordination Of All The Moral Virtues And Intellectual Abilities, All The Powers Of Wealth, Beauty, Wit And Science, To The Wanton Pleasures, The Capricious Will, And The Execrable Cruelty Of One Or A Very Few.
Eye
Men
Intellectual
This Is A Revolution, Damn It! We're Going To Have To Offend Somebody!
Animal
Revolution
Animal Rights
I Will Insist That The Hebrews Have Done More To Civilize Man Than Any Other Nation.
Men
Israel
Presidential
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.
Retirement
Ignorance
Errors
The Declaration Of Independence Laid The Cornerstone Of Human Government Upon The First Precepts Of Christianity.
Bible
God
Religious
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.
Real
Long
Liberty
The Foundations Of National Morality Must Be Laid In Private Families.
Foundation
Morality
A Representative Assembly, Although Extremely Well Qualified, And Absolutely Necessary, As A Branch Of The Legislative, Is Unfit To Exercise The Executive Power, For Want Of Two Essential Properties, Secrecy And Dispatch.
Exercise
Two
Essentials
Let Us Tenderly And Kindly Cherish, Therefore, The Means Of Knowledge. Let Us Dare To Read, Think, Speak, And Write.
Inspiring
Education
Book
There Is Not An Enemy So Stout, As To Storm And Take The Fortress Of The Mind, Unless Its Infirmity Turn Traitor, And Fear Unbar The Gates.
Mind
Enemy
Storm
This Oration Will Be Read Five Hundred Years Hence With As Much Rapture As It Was Heard. It Ought To Be Read At The End Of Every Century, And Indeed At The End Of Every Year, Forever And Ever.
Men
Years
Forever
The Proposition That The People Are The Best Keepers Of Their Own Liberties Is Not True. They Are The Worst Conceivable, They Are No Keepers At All; They Can Neither Judge, Act, Think, Or Will, As A Political Body.
Patriotic
Thinking
People
Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude.
Evil
Slavery
Magnitude
The Consequences Arising From The Continual Accumulation Of Public Debts In Other Countries Ought To Admonish Us To Prevent Their Growth In Our Own.
Country
Government
Growth
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.
Government
People
Liberty
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