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We Electors Have An Important Constitutional Power Placed In Our Hands; We Have A Check Upon Two Branches Of The Legislature.
-John Adams
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We Electors Have An

John Adams
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We Electors Have An Important Constitutional Power Placed In Our Hands; We Have A Check Upon Two Branches Of The Legislature.

Understanding the Quote: "we electors have an important constitutional power placed in our hands; we..."

This quote by John Adams reflects deeply on the theme of hands. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Hands, Two, Voting, 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 hands and two. 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
Hands
Two
Voting
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The General Principles On Which The Fathers Achieved Independence Were The General Principles Of Christianity
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Fear Is The Foundation Of Most Governments.
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If There Is A Form Of Government, Then, Whose Principle And Foundation Is Virtue, Will Not Every Sober Man Acknowledge It Better Calculated To Promote The General Happiness Than Any Other Form?
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The Appearance Of Religion Only On Sunday Proves That It Is Only An Appearance.
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Let Us Tenderly And Kindly Cherish, Therefore, The Means Of Knowledge. Let Us Dare To Read, Think, Speak, And Write.
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[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.
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Can A Free Government Possibly Exist With The Roman Catholic Religion?
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Swim Or Sink, Live Or Die, Survive Or Perish With My Country Was My Unalterable Determination.
Country
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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.
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Let Every Sluice Of Knowledge Be Opened And Set A-flowing.
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I Consider A Decent Respect For Christianity Among The Best Recommendations For Public Service.
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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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Remember, Democracy Never Lasts Long. It Soon Wastes, Exhausts, And Murders Itself. There Never Was A Democracy Yet That Did Not Commit Suicide.
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The True Source Of Our Sufferings Has Been Our Timidity.
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Politics Are The Divine Science, After All.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Horse
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Waiting
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.
Graduation
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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Nothing Is More Dreaded Than The National Government Meddling With Religion.
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Government
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Genius Is Sorrow's Child.
Children
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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?
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Country
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Every Problem Is An Opportunity In Disguise.
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I Am Determined To Control Events, Not Be Controlled By Them.
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When You See A Good Move, Sit On Your Hands And Find A Better One.
Moving
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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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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.
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Let Them Revere Nothing But Religion, Morality And Liberty.
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The Only Way To Form An Army To Be Confided In, Was A Systematic Discipline, By Which Means All Men May Be Made Heroes.
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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.
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Mystery Is Made A Convenient Cover For Absurdity.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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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.
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There Never Was Yet A People Who Must Not Have Somebody Or Something To Represent The Dignity Of The State.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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We Should Begin By Setting Conscience Free. When All Men Of All Religions Shall Enjoy Equal Liberty, Property, And An Equal Chance For Honors And Power We May Expect That Improvements Will Be Made In The Human Character And The State Of Society.
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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.
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Individuals Have Conquered Themselves. Nations And Large Bodies Of Men, Never.
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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.
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The Balance Of Power In A Society Accompanies The Balance Of Property In Land.
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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.
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But A Constitution Of Government Once Changed From Freedom, Can Never Be Restored. Liberty, Once Lost, Is Lost Forever.
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The United States Is Not A Christian Nation Any More Than It Is A Jewish Or A Mohammedan Nation.
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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.
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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.
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There Is No Greater Guilt Than The Unneccessary War.
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Greater
Thomas Jefferson Survives.
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Death
Life And Death
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!
Believe
Heart
Blessing
We Recognize No Sovereign But God, And No King But Jesus!
Bible
God
Religious
The National Defense Is One Of The Cardinal Duties Of A Statesman.
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A Pen Is Certainly An Excellent Instrument To Fix A Man's Attention And To Inflame His Ambition.
Ambition
Men
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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.
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Mind
Children Should Be Educated And Instructed In The Principles Of Freedom.
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The Constitution Is ...the Greatest Single Effort Of National Deliberation That The World Has Ever Seen
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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.
Education
War
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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.
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That The Said Constitution Shall Never Be Construed To Authorize Congress To Infringe The Just Liberty Of The Press Or The Rights Of Conscience.
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I Had Heard My Father Say That He Never Knew A Piece Of Land Run Away Or Break.
Running
Father
Land
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
Trust
Freedom
In General, Our Generals Were Outgeneralled.
Peace
War
Because Power Corrupts, Society's Demands For Moral Authority And Character Increase As The Importance Of The Position Increases.
Leadership
Character
Persistence
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. . . .
Religious
Time
Real
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.
Children
Land
Two
We Shall, By And By, Want A World Of Hemp More For Our Own Consumption.
Weed
Marijuana
World
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
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
Passion
Government
We Cannot Insure Success, But We Can Deserve It.
Virtue
Parliament
Humankind
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 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.
Family
Home
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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.
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Power
Self
The Ten Commandments And The Sermon On The Mount Contain My Religion.
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Christianity
Founding Fathers Religion
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?
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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
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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It Is Folly To Anticipate Evils, And Madness To Create Imaginary Ones.
Evil
Madness
Folly
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
The Hebrews Have Done More To Civilize Men Than Any Other Nation: The Doctrine Of A Supreme, Intelligent Sovereign Of The Universe, I Believe To Be The Great Essential Principle Of All Morality, And Consequently Of All Civilization.
Believe
Men
Intelligent
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.
Sports
4th Of July
Believe
Everything In Life Should Be Done With Reflection.
Reflection
Done
Should
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
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.
Commitment
Two
Earth
He Is Too Illiterate, Unread, Unlearned For His Station And Reputation.
Government
Reputation
Illiterate
I Have Long Been Settled In My Own Opinion That Neither Philosophy, Nor Religion, Nor Morality, Nor Wisdom, Nor Interest, Will Ever Govern Nations Or Parties, Against Their Vanity, Their Pride, Their Resentment, Or Revenge, Or Their Avarice, Or Ambition. Nothing But Force And Power And Strength Can Restrain Them.
Revenge
Philosophy
Party
When Philosophic Reason Is Clear And Certain By Intuition Or Necessary Induction, No Subsequent Revelation Supported By Prophecies Or Miracles Can Supersede It.
Miracle
Intuition
Atheism
I Must Not Write A Word To You About Politics, Because You Are A Woman.
Writing
Political
Politics
They Shall Not Be Expected To Acknowledge Us Until We Have Acknowledged Ourselves.
Acknowledge
Expected
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
Voice
I Must Study Politics And War That My Sons May Have Liberty To Study Mathematics And Philosophy.
Education
Philosophy
War
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
War
[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.
Rights
Government
Law
This Is A Revolution, Damn It! We're Going To Have To Offend Somebody!
Animal
Revolution
Animal Rights
My Country Has Contrived For Me The Most Insignificant Office That Ever The Invention Of Man Contrived Or His Imagination Conceived.
Country
Men
History
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.
Assuming
Never Assume
Increase
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.
Religious
Men
Liberty
The Form Of Government Which You Admire, When Its Principles Are Pure Is Admirable Indeed. It Is Productive Of Every Thing Which Is Great And Excellent Among Men. But Its Principles Are As Easily Destroyed As Human Nature Is Corrupted. Such A Government Is Only To Be Supported By Pure Religion Or Austere Morals.
Men
Religion
Principles
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, And The Result Is That The Bible Is The Best Book In The World.
Bible
God
Religious
Negro Slavery Is An Evil Of Colossal Magnitude.
Evil
Slavery
Magnitude
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
Ideas
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.
Passion
Patriotic
Law
We May... Affirm That The Balance Of Power In A Society Accompanies The Balance Of Property In Land. The Only Possible Way, Then, Of Preserving The Balance Of Power On The Side Of Liberty And Public Virtue Is To Make The Acquisition Of Land Easy To Every Member Of Society; To Make A Division Of The Land Into Small Quantities, So That The Multitude May Be Possessed Of Landed Estates.
Land
Balance
Liberty
Whenever Serious Art Loses Track Of Its Roots In The Vernacular, Then It Begins To Atrophy.
Art
Roots
Track
...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.
Government
Cities
People
Modesty Is A Virtue That Can Never Thrive In Public.
Modesty
Virtue
Thrive
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.
Vanity
Vices
Danger
Have You Ever Found In History, One Single Example Of A Nation, Thoroughly Corrupted, That Was Afterwards Restored To Virtue? And Without Virtue There Can Be No Political Liberty.
Political
Liberty
Example
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.
Family
Long
Influence
To Believe All Men Honest Is Folly. To Believe None Is Something Worse.
Believe
Men
Honest
Grief Drives Men Into Habits Of Serious Reflection, Sharpens The Understanding, And Softens The Heart
Grief
Heart
Sadness
Elections To Office, Which Are The Great Objects Of Ambition, I Look At With Terror!
Ambition
Office
Revolution
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
Property Monopolized Or In The Possession Of A Few Is A Curse To Mankind.
Mankind
Possession
Curse
I Shall Have The Liberty To Think For Myself.
Thinking
Liberty
The Whole Drama Of The World Is Such Tragedy That I Am Weary Of The Spectacle.
Drama
Tragedy
World
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
If We Do Not Lay Out Ourselves In The Service Of Mankind Whom Should We Serve?
Inspirational
Healthcare
Serving Others
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
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
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
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.
Government
Democracy
Affair
Neither My Father Or Mother, Grandfather Or Grandmother, Great Grandfather Or Great Grandmother, Nor Any Other Relation That I Know Of, Or Care A Farthing For, Has Been In England These One Hundred And Fifty Years; So That You See I Have Not One Drop Of Blood In My Veins But What Is American.
Mother
Father
Blood
Arms In The Hands Of Citizens May Be Used At Individual Discretion... In Private Self-defense.
Strength
Peace
Patriotic
Every Measure Of Prudence, Therefore, Ought To Be Assumed For The Eventual Total Extirpation Of Slavery From The United States ... I Have, Throughout My Whole Life, Held The Practice Of Slavery In ... Abhorrence.
Practice
United States
Slavery
Abuse Of Words Has Been The Great Instrument Of Sophistry And Chicanery, Of Party, Faction, And Division Of Society.
Party
Government
Unnecessary War
The Declaration Of Independence Laid The Cornerstone Of Human Government Upon The First Precepts Of Christianity.
Bible
God
Religious
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
We Electors Have An Important Constitutional Power Placed In Our Hands; We Have A Check Upon Two Branches Of The Legislature.
Hands
Two
Voting
Public Virtue Cannot Exist In A Nation Without Private, And Public Virtue Is The Only Foundation Of Republics.
Government
Liberty
Foundation
Did You Ever See A Portrait Of A Great Man Without Perceiving Strong Traits Of Pain And Anxiety?
Strong
Pain
Men
Remember, Democracy Never Lasts Long. It Soon Wastes, Exhausts, And Murders Itself. There Never Was A Democracy Yet That Did Not Commit Suicide. It Is In Vain To Say That Democracy Is Less Vain, Less Proud, Less Selfish, Less Ambitious, Or Less Avaricious Than Aristocracy Or Monarchy. It Is Not True, In Fact, And Nowhere Appears In History. Those Passions Are The Same In All Men, Under All Forms Of Simple Government, And When Unchecked, Produce The Same Effects Of Fraud, Violence, And Cruelty.
Suicide
Selfish
Passion
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
Liberty
Individual
Great Is The Guilt Of An Unnecessary War.
Peace
War
History
There Are Two Ways To Conquer And Enslave A Country. One Is By The Sword. The Other Is By Debt.
Country
Two
Debt
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!
Wise
Honesty
Blessing
Education Makes A Greater Difference Between Man And Man Than Nature Has Made Between Man And Brute.
Education
Men
Differences
I Do Not Like The Reappearance Of The Jesuits... Nevertheless, We Are Compelled By Our System Of Religious Toleration To Offer Them An Asylum.
Religious
Atheism
Asylums
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
The Happiness Of Man, As Well As His Dignity, Consists In Virtue.
Men
Dignity
Virtue
Make Things Rather Than Persons The Subjects Of Conversations.
Conversation
Persons
Subjects
Let The Human Mind Loose. It Must Be Loose. It Will Be Loose. Superstition And Dogmatism Cannot Confine It.
Education
Mind
Superstitions
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?
Kings
Law
Oil
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.
Writing
Revolution
Obnoxious
This Would Be The Best Of All Possible Worlds, If There Were No Religion In It.
Religious
Atheist
If There Is A God
Ambition Is The Subtlest Beast Of The Intellectual And Moral Field. It Is Wonderfully Adroit In Concealing Itself From Its Owner.
Ambition
Intellectual
Fields
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
I Shall Have Liberty To Think For Myself Without Molesting Others Or Being Molested Myself.
Thinking
Liberty
Positive Atheism
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
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.
Men
Law
Hunger And Poverty
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.
Life
Nature
Gun
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.
Men
Self
Hands
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
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
Those Who Trade Liberty For Security Have Neither.
Liberty
Libertarian
Pro Gun
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
Property Must Be Secured, Or Liberty Cannot Exist.
Liberty
Patriot
Property
What Havoc, Said I To Myself, Would These Manners Make In America! Our Governors, Our Judges, Our Senators Or Representatives, And Even Our Ministers, Would Be Appointed By Harlots, For Money; And Their Judgments, Decrees, And Decisions, Be Sold To Repay Themselves, Or, Perhaps, To Procure The Smiles Of Profligate Females.
America
Judging
Decision
My God! This Is A Revolution! We Have To Offend Someone!
Religion
Revolution
Mankind Will In Time Discover That Unbridled Majorities Are As Tyrannical And Cruel As Unlimited Despots.
Libertarian Party
Liberty
Majority
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
. . . 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.
Religious
Father
Rights
Shall We Have Recourse To The Art Of Printing? But This Has Not Destroyed Property Or Aristocracy Or Corporations Or Paper Wealth In England Or America, Or Diminished The Influence Of Either; On The Contrary, It Has Multiplied Aristocracy And Diminished Democracy.
Art
America
Democracy
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
Borrowed Eloquence, If It Contains As Good Stuff, Is As Good As Own Eloquence
Stuff
Eloquence
Borrowing
We Hold That Each Man Is The Best Judge Of His Own Interest.
Men
Judging
Interest
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.
Mean
Hands
Two
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
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.
Growing Up
Thinking
Opera
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
Ambition Is One Of The Ungovernable Passions Of The Human Heart. The Love Of Power Is Insatiable And Uncontrollable.
Passion
Heart
Ambition
The Arts And Sciences, In General, During The Three Or Four Last Centuries, Have Had A Regular Course Of Progressive Improvement. The Inventions In Mechanic Arts, The Discoveries In Natural Philosophy, Navigation And Commerce, And The Advancement Of Civilization And Humanity, Have Occasioned Changes In The Condition Of The World And The Human Character Which Would Have Astonished The Most Refined Nations Of Antiquity. A Continuation Of Similar Exertions Is Everyday Rendering Europe More And More Like One Community, Or Single Family.
Art
Philosophy
Character
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.
Government
Perfect
Moral
It Already Appears, That There Must Be In Every Society Of Men Superiors And Inferiors, Because God Has Laid In The Constitution And Course Of Nature The Foundations Of The Distinction.
Men
People
Foundation
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.
Mean
Sleep
Cutting
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
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
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?
Passion
Differences
People
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.
Views
Law
Judging
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.
Education
Wise
Learning
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
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.
Honesty
Tyrants
People
I Am A Revolutionary, So My Son Can Be A Farmer, So His Son Can Be A Poet.
Son
Revolutionary
Poet
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.
Education
Wisdom
Reading
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
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
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.
Believe
America
Errors
Liberty Cannot Be Preserved Without General Knowledge Among The People.
Education
Freedom
Knowledge
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
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