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Since Natural Law Was Thought To Be Accessible To The Ordinary Man, The Theory Invited Each Juror To Inquire For Himself Whether A Particular Rule Of Law Was Consonant With Principles Of Higher Law. This View Is Reflected In John Adams' Statement That It Would Be An 'absurdity' For Jurors To Be Required To Accept The Judge's View Of The Law, 'against Their Own Opinion, Judgment, And Conscience.'

-John Adams

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Since Natural Law Was

John Adams

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Since Natural Law Was Thought To Be Accessible To The Ordinary Man, The Theory Invited Each Juror To Inquire For Himself Whether A Particular Rule Of Law Was Consonant With Principles Of Higher Law. This View Is Reflected In John Adams' Statement That It Would Be An 'absurdity' For Jurors To Be Required To Accept The Judge's View Of The Law, 'against Their Own Opinion, Judgment, And Conscience.'

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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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Will You Tell Me How To Prevent Riches From Producing Luxury? Will You Tell Me How To Prevent Luxury From Producing Effeminacy, Intoxication, Extravagance, Vice And Folly?

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.

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.

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

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.

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."

Ambition Is One Of The Ungovernable Passions Of The Human Heart. The Love Of Power Is Insatiable And Uncontrollable.

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.

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.

It Is Folly To Anticipate Evils, And Madness To Create Imaginary Ones.

I Must Judge For Myself, But How Can I Judge, How Can Any Man Judge, Unless His Mind Has Been Opened And Enlarged By Reading.

By The Former Of These (canon Law), The Most Refined, Sublime, Extensive, And Astonishing Constitution Of Policy That Ever Was Conceived By The Mind Of Man Was Framed By The Romish Clergy For The Aggrandizement Of Their Own Order.

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!

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.

Let Justice Be Done Though The Heavens Should Fall.

I Am Quite Content To Come Home And Go To Farming, Be A Select Man, And Owe No Man Any Thing But Good Will. There I Can Get A Little Health And Teach My Boys To Be Lawyers.

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.

I Had Heard My Father Say That He Never Knew A Piece Of Land Run Away Or Break.

Slavery Is A Foul Contagion In The Human Character.

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.

Grief Drives Men Into Habits Of Serious Reflection, Sharpens The Understanding, And Softens The Heart

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.

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.

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.

Every Problem Is An Opportunity In Disguise.

When I Was Young, And Addicted To Reading, I Had Heard About Dancing On The Points Of Metaphysical Needles; But, By Mixing In The World, I Found The Points Of Political Needles Finer And Sharper Than The Metaphysical Ones.

You Will Ever Remember That All The End Of Study Is To Make You A Good Man And A Useful Citizen.

Inspirational Life

...cities May Be Rebuilt, And A People Reduced To Poverty, May Acquire Fresh Property: But A Constitution Of Government Once Changed From Freedom, Can Never Be Restored. Liberty Once Lost Is Lost Forever. When The People Once Surrendered Their Share In The Legislature, And Their Right Of Defending The Limitations Upon The Government, And Of Resisting Every Encroachment Upon Them, They Can Never Regain It.

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.

The Deliberate Union Of So Great And Various A People In Such A Place, Is Without All Partiality Or Prejudice, If Not The Greatest Exertion Of Human Understanding, The Greatest Single Effort Of National Deliberation That The World Has Ever Seen.

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

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.

Let Us Hear The Dangers Of Thralldom To Our Consciences From Ignorance, Extreme Poverty, And Dependence; In Short, From Civil And Political Slavery. Let Us See Delineated Before Us The True Map Of Man. Let Us Hear The Dignity Of His Nature, And The Noble Rank He Holds Among The Works Of God-that Consenting To Slavery Is A Sacrilegious Breach Of Trust, As Offensive In The Sight Of God As It Is Derogatory From Our Own Honor Or Interest Or Happiness-and That God Almighty Has Promulgated From Heaven Liberty, Peace, And Goodwill To Man!

Human Nature Itself Is Evermore An Advocate For Liberty. There Is Also In Human Nature A Resentment Of Injury, And Indignation Against Wrong. A Love Of Truth And A Veneration Of Virtue. These Amiable Passions, Are The "latent Spark" . . . If The People Are Capable Of Understanding, Seeing And Feeling The Differences Between True And False, Right And Wrong, Virtue And Vice, To What Better Principle Can The Friends Of Mankind Apply Than To The Sense Of This Difference?

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.

. . . 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.

The Declaration Of Independence I Always Considered As A Theatrical Show. Jefferson Ran Away With All The Stage Effect Of That... And All The Glory Of It.

Because Power Corrupts, Society's Demands For Moral Authority And Character Increase As The Importance Of The Position Increases.

We Electors Have An Important Constitutional Power Placed In Our Hands: We Have A Check Upon Two Branches Of The Legislature, As Each Branch Has Upon The Other Two; The Power I Mean Of Electing At Stated Periods, One Branch, Which Branch Has The Power Of Electing Another. It Becomes Necessary To Every Subject Then, To Be In Some Degree A Statesman: And To Examine And Judge For Himself Of The Tendencies Of Political Principles And Measures.

[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.

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.

I Will Insist The Hebrews Have [contributed] More To Civilize Men Than Any Other Nation. If I Was An Atheist And Believed In Blind Eternal Fate, I Should Still Believe That Fate Had Ordained The Jews To Be The Most Essential Instrument For Civilizing The Nations. They Are The Most Glorious Nation That Ever Inhabited This Earth. The Romans And Their Empire Were But A Bubble In Comparison To The Jews. They Have Given Religion To Three-quarters Of The Globe And Have Influenced The Affairs Of Mankind More And More Happily Than Any Other Nation, Ancient Or Modern.

The World Grows More Enlightened. Knowledge Is More Equally Diffused.

Admire And Adore The Author Of The Telescopic Universe, Love And Esteem The Work, Do All In Your Power To Lessen Ill, And Increase Good, But Never Assume To Comprehend.

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

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

The General Principles On Which The Fathers Achieved Independence Were The General Principles Of Christianity

[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.

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.

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.

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.

Let Them Revere Nothing But Religion, Morality And Liberty.

Founding Fathers Religion

I Am Determined To Control Events, Not Be Controlled By Them.

If We Do Not Lay Out Ourselves In The Service Of Mankind Whom Should We Serve?

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.

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

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.

Let Us Dare To Read, Think, Speak And Write.

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.

The Foundations Of National Morality Must Be Laid In Private Families.

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.

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.

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

In Vain Are Schools, Academies, And Universities Instituted, If Loose Principles And Licentious Habits Are Impressed Upon Children In Their Earliest Years . . . . The Vices And Examples Of The Parents Cannot Be Concealed From The Children. How Is It Possible That Children Can Have Any Just Sense Of The Sacred Obligations Of Morality Or Religion If, From Their Earliest Infancy, They Learn Their Mothers Live In Habitual Infidelity To Their Fathers, And Their Fathers In As Constant Infidelity To Their Mothers.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

Let Every Sluice Of Knowledge Be Opened And Set A-flowing.

Fear Is The Foundation Of Most Governments.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

It Is More Important That Innocence Be Protected Than It Is That Guilt Be Punished, For Guilt And Crimes Are So Frequent In This World That They Cannot All Be Punished. But If Innocence Itself Is Brought To The Bar And Condemned, Perhaps To Die, Then The Citizen Will Say, "whether I Do Good Or Whether I Do Evil Is Immaterial, For Innocence Itself Is No Protection," And If Such An Idea As That Were To Take Hold In The Mind Of The Citizen That Would Be The End Of Security Whatsoever.

If My Superiors Shall Permit Me To Come Home, I Hope It Will Be Soon; If They Mean I Should Stay Abroad, I Am Not Able To Say What I Shall Do, Until I Know In What Capacity. One Thing Is Certain, That I Will Not Live Long Without My Family.

Had I Been Chosen President Again, I Am Certain I Could Not Have Lived Another Year.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Riches Attract Attention, Consideration, And Congratulations Of Mankind.

Congratulations

Elections, Especially Of Representatives And Counselors, Should Be Annual, There Not Being In The Whole Circle Of The Sciences A Maxim More Infallible Than This, "where Annual Elections End, There Slavery Begins." These Great Men ... Should Be (chosen) Once A Year-like Bubbles On The Sea Of Matter Bourne, They Rise, They Break, And To The Sea Return. This Will Teach Them The Great Political Virtues Of Humility, Patience, And Moderation, Without Which Every Man In Power Becomes A Ravenous Beast Of Prey.

Let Frugality And Industry Be Our Virtues.

A Government Of Laws, And Not Of Men.

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.

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.

Before God, I Believe The Hour Has Come. My Judgment Approves This Measure, And My Whole Heart Is In It. All That I Have, And All That I Am, And All That I Hope In This Life, I Am Now Ready Here To Stake Upon It. And I Leave Off As I Began, That Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish, I Am For The Declaration. It Is My Living Sentiment, And By The Blessing Of God It Shall Be My Dying Sentiment. Independence Now, And Independence For Ever!

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.

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.

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

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.

Human Passions Unbridled By Morality And Religion...would Break The Stronges Cords Of Our Constitution As A Whale Goes Through A Net.

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 I Must Submit All My Hopes And Fears, To An Overruling Providence, In Which, Unfashionable As The Faith May Be, I Firmly Believe.

Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.

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

Government Has No Right To Hurt A Hair Of The Head Of An Atheist, For His Opinions. Let Him Have A Care Of His Practices.

Thanks Be To God, That He Gave Me Stubborness, When I Know I Am Right.

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.

[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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

We Recognize No Sovereign But God, And No King But Jesus!

[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.

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

As The Happiness Of The People Is The Sole End Of Government, So The Consent Of The People Is The Only Foundation Of It.

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

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

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.

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.

Objects Of The Most Stupendous Magnitude, And Measure In Which The Lives And Liberties Of Millions Yet Unborn Are Intimately Interested, Are Now Before Us. We Are In The Very Midst Of A Revolution The Most Complete, Unexpected And Remarkable Of Any In The History Of Nations.

Posterity! You Will Never Know How Much It Cost The Present Generation To Preserve Your Freedom! I Hope You Will Make A Good Use Of It.

Ambition Is The Subtlest Beast Of The Intellectual And Moral Field. It Is Wonderfully Adroit In Concealing Itself From Its Owner.

The National Defense Is One Of The Cardinal Duties Of A Statesman.

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

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

Property Must Be Secured, Or Liberty Cannot Exist.

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.

Politics Are The Divine Science, After All.

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.

I Consider A Decent Respect For Christianity Among The Best Recommendations For Public Service.

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.

The Consequences Of These Institutions (the Towns Or Districts, The Congregations, The Schools,and The Militia.) Have Been, That The Inhabitants, Having Acquired From Their Infancy The Habit Of Discussing, Of Deliberating, And Of Judging Of Public Affairs, It Was In These Assemblies Of Towns Or Districts That The Sentiments Of The People Were Formed In The First Place, And Their Resolutions Were Taken From The Beginning To The End Of The Disputes And The War With Great Britain.

Arms In The Hands Of Citizens May Be Used At Individual Discretion... In Private Self-defense.

Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without General Knowledge Among The People.

Facts Are Stubborn Things; And Whatever May Be Our Wishes, Our Inclinations, Or The Dictates Of Our Passions, They Cannot Alter The State Of Facts And Evidence: Nor Is The Law Less Stable Than The Fact.

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.

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.

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 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.

Liberty, Once Lost, Is Lost Forever.

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.

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

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.

The Europeans Are All Deeply Tainted With Prejudices, Both Ecclesiastical And Temporal, Which They Can Never Get Rid Of. They Are All Infected With Episcopal And Presbyterian Creeds, And Confessions Of Faith. They All Believe That Great Principle Which Has Produced This Boundless Universe, Newton's Universe And Herschell's Universe, Came Down To This Little Ball, To Be Spit Upon By Jews. And Until This Awful Blasphemy Is Got Rid Of, There Never Will Be Any Liberal Science In The World.

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

[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.

That The Said Constitution Shall Never Be Construed To Authorize Congress To Infringe The Just Liberty Of The Press Or The Rights Of Conscience.

Second Amendment

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.

Thomas Jefferson Survives.

The Frightful Engines Of Ecclesiastical Councils, Of Diabolical Malice, And Calvinistical Good-nature Never Failed To Terrify Me Exceedingly Whenever I Thought Of Preaching.

Great Is The Guilt Of An Unnecessary War.

[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.

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.

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.

Admit That The Press Transferred The Pontificate Of Rome To Henry Viii-admit That The Press Demolished In Some Sort The Feudal System, And Set The Serfs And Villains Free; Admit That The Press Demolished The Monasteries, Nunneries, And Religious Houses; Into Whose Hands Did All These Alienated Baronies, Monasteries, And Religious Houses And Lands Fall? Into The Hands Of The Democracy? Into The Hands Of Serfs And Villains? Serfs And Villains Were The Only Real Democracy In Those Time. No. They Fell Into The Hands Of Other Aristocrats. . . .

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

There Never Was Yet A People Who Must Not Have Somebody Or Something To Represent The Dignity Of The State.

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.

Borrowed Eloquence, If It Contains As Good Stuff, Is As Good As Own Eloquence

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 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.

Let The Pulpit Resound With The Doctrines And Sentiments Of Religious Liberty... Let Us Hear The Dignity Of His [man's] Nature, And The Noble Rank He Holds Among The Works Of God... Let It Be Known, That British Liberties Are Not The Grants Of Princes Or Parliaments.

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.

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

The United States Of America Have Exhibited, Perhaps, The First Example Of Governments Erected On The Simple Principles Of Nature. . . . [in] The Formation Of The American Governments . . . It Will Never Be Pretended That Any Persons Employed In That Service Had Interviews With The Gods, Or Were In Any Degree Under The Influence Of Heaven. . . . These Governments Were Contrived Merely By The Use Of Reason And The Senses.

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.

As The Government Of The United States Of America 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, - And As The Said States Never Have Entered Into Any War Or Act Of Hostility Against Any Mehomitan Nation, It Is Declared By The Parties That No Pretext Arising From Religious Opinions Shall Ever Produce An Interruption Of The Harmony Existing Between The Two Countries.

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 Happiness Of Society Is The End Of Government.

Remember, Democracy Never Lasts Long. It Soon Wastes, Exhausts, And Murders Itself. There Never Was A Democracy Yet That Did Not Commit Suicide.

Twenty Times, In The Course Of My Late Reading, Have I Been On The Point Of Breaking Out, 'this Would Be The Best Of All Possible Worlds, If There Were No Religion In It!' But In This Exclamation, I Should Have Been As Fanatical As Bryant Or Cleverly. Without Religion, This World Would Be Something Not Fit To Be Mentioned In Public Company-i Mean Hell.

There Is No Greater Guilt Than The Unneccessary War.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Furnace Of Affliction Produces Refinement In States As Well As Individuals. And The New Governments We Are Assuming In Every Part Will Require A Purification From Our Vices, And An Augmentation Of Our Virtues, Or There Will Be No Blessings.

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.

In Politics The Middle Way Is None At All.

Education Makes A Greater Difference Between Man And Man Than Nature Has Made Between Man And Brute.

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.

No Man Who Ever Held The Office Of President Would Congratulate A Friend On Obtaining It.

Wisdom And Knowledge, As Well As Virtue, Diffused Generally Among The Body Of The People Being Necessary For The Preservation Of Their Rights And Liberties; And As These Depend On Spreading The Opportunities And Advantages Of Education In Various Parts Of The Country, And Among The Different Orders Of The People, It Shall Be The Duty Of Legislators And Magistrates In All Future Periods Of This Commonwealth To Cherish The Interests Of Literature And The Sciences.

I Must Not Write A Word To You About Politics, Because You Are A Woman.

Did You Ever See A Portrait Of A Great Man Without Perceiving Strong Traits Of Pain And Anxiety?

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.

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