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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.

-John Adams

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The Church Of Rome

John Adams

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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.

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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.

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.

Modesty Is A Virtue That Can Never Thrive In Public.

When Public Virtue Is Gone, When The National Spirit Is Fled The Republic Is Lost In Essence, Though It May Still Exist In Form

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

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.

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.

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

The Constitution Is ...the Greatest Single Effort Of National Deliberation That The World Has Ever Seen

A Desire To Be Observed, Considered, Esteemed, Praised, Beloved, And Admired By His Fellows Is One Of The Earliest As Well As The Keenest Dispositions Discovered In The Heart Of Man.

Those Who Trade Liberty For Security Have Neither.

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.

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

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.

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

. . . 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.

If Worthless Men Are Sometimes At The Head Of Affairs, It Is, I Believe, Because Worthless Men Are At The Tail And The Middle

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.

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.

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.

Our Constitution Was Made Only For A Moral And Religious People. It Is Wholly Inadequate To The Government Of Any Other.

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.

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 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.

We Hold That Each Man Is The Best Judge Of His Own Interest.

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.

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.

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 Happiness Of Society Is The End Of Government.

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

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

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.

There Is But One Element Of Government, And That Is The People. From This Element Spring All Governments. "for A Nation To Be Free, It Is Only Necessary That She Wills It." For A Nation To Be Slave, It Is Only Necessary That She Wills It.

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

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

Founding Fathers Religion

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.

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.

The Whole People Must Take Upon Themselves The Education Of The Whole People, And Must Be Willing To Bear The Expenses Of It. There Should Not Be A District Of One Mile Square, Without A School In It, Not Founded By A Charitable Individual, But Maintained At The Public Expense Of The People Themselves.

Let The Human Mind Loose. It Must Be Loose. It Will Be Loose. Superstition And Dogmatism Cannot Confine It.

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

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

We Must Not Then Depend Alone Upon The Love Of Liberty In The Soul Of Man For Its Preservation.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Human Government Is More Or Less Perfect As It Approaches Nearer Or Diverges Farther From The Imitation Of This Perfect Plan Of Divine And Moral Government.

There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, Unless You Have A Coupon For A Free Lunch...or Someone Gives You A Lunch...never Mind.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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'.

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

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

Let Them Revere Nothing But Religion, Morality And Liberty.

Founding Fathers Religion

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

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.

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.

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.

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

[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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

I Shall Have The Liberty To Think For Myself.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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

It Is Weakness Rather Than Wickedness Which Renders Men Unfit To Be Trusted With Unlimited Power.

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

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

Property Must Be Secured, Or Liberty Cannot Exist.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

Libertarian Party

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 Have Examined All Religions, And The Result Is That The Bible Is The Best Book In The World.

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.

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

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.

Individuals Have Conquered Themselves. Nations And Large Bodies Of Men, Never.

Democracies Have

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.

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.

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

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

Declaration Of Independence

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

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.

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!

Pray How Does Your Asparagus Perform?

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.

In General, Our Generals Were Outgeneralled.

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 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.

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.

Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.

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

Genius Is Sorrow's Child.

Politics Are A Labyrinth Without A Clue.

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

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.

Whenever Serious Art Loses Track Of Its Roots In The Vernacular, Then It Begins To Atrophy.

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

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

Inspirational Life

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.

Were I To Define The British Constitution, Therefore, I Should Say, It Is A Limited Monarchy, Or A Mixture Of The Three Forms Of Government Commonly Known In The Schools, Reserving As Much Of The Monarchical Splendor, The Aristocratical Independency, And The Democratical Freedom, As Are Necessary That Each Of These Powers May Have A Control, Both In Legislation And Execution, Over The Other Two, For The Preservation Of The Subject's Liberty.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

The Balance Of Power In A Society Accompanies The Balance Of Property In Land.

Religion And Virtue Are The Only Foundations, Not Of Republicanism And Of All Free Government, But Of Social Felicity Under All Government And In All The Combinations Of Human Society.

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.

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. . . .

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

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

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.

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.

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.

A Government Of Laws, And Not Of Men.

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.

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?

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 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.

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.

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

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

This Is A Revolution, Damn It! We're Going To Have To Offend Somebody!

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

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.

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.

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

The Appearance Of Religion Only On Sunday Proves That It Is Only An Appearance.

If The Way To Do Good To My Country Were To Render Myself Popular, I Could Easily Do It. But Extravagant Popularity Is Not The Road To Public Advantage.

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

Catholic Religion

The Date Will Be The Most Memorable Epoch In The History Of America. I Am Apt To Believe That It Will Be Celebrated By Succeeding Generations As The Great Anniversary Festival. It Ought To Be Commemorated As The Day Of Deliverance, By Solemn Acts Of Devotion To God Almighty. It Ought To Be Solemnized With Pomp And Parade, With Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, And Illuminations, From One End Of This Continent To The Other, From This Time Forward Forever More.

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.

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.

Let Justice Be Done Though The Heavens Should Fall.

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

[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.

Always Stand On Principle Even If You Stand Alone.

Make Things Rather Than Persons The Subjects Of Conversations.

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.

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.

If The Christian Religion, As I Understand It, Or As You Understand It, Should Maintain Its Ground, As I Believe It Will, Yet Platonic, Pythagoric, Hindoo, And Cabalistical Christianity, Which Is Catholic Christianity, And Which Has Prevailed For 1500 Years, Has Received A Mortal Wound, Of Which The Monster Must Finally Die. Yet So Strong Is His Constitution, That He May Endure For Centuries Before He Expires.

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 Shall Have Liberty To Think For Myself Without Molesting Others Or Being Molested Myself.

Positive Atheism

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

Liberty, Once Lost, Is Lost Forever.

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.

In Politics The Middle Way Is None At All.

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.

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.

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?

Fear Is The Foundation Of Most Governments.

We Are In The The Very Midst Of A Revolution, The Most Complete, Unexpected And Remarkable Of Any In The History Of Nations.

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

Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude.

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.

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.

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.

Riches Attract Attention, Consideration, And Congratulations Of Mankind.

Congratulations

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.

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.

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C. Northcote Parkinson

Daniel Keys Moran

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