The Founders of the United States left an indelible impression on our system of government and our national character. We must be careful not to lose sight of what they intended for this great country.
To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.—
A man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.—
A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.—
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.—
Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? . . . If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?—
The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases.—
The right of self-defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals.—
It is to me a new and consolatory proof that wherever the people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.—
Our citizens have been always free to make, vend, and export arms…the benefits of them will be left equally free and open to all.—
Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we’ve removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of people that these liberties are the gifts of God?—
Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.—
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!—
In free government the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns.—
God who gave us life gave us liberty.—
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.—
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.— , The Federalist #62
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.—
I’ve lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth: That God governs in the Affairs of Men.—
…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.—
If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion what would they be if without it?—
The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.—
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.—
It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.—
The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.—
Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.—
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.—
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.—
The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.—
I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power….—
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.—
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.—
It is not by the consolidation or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected.—
I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all.—
Virtue is not always amiable.—
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.—
Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations….—
If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions.—
The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.—
A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.—
Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds…. Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.—
It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this.—
Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but it is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society.—
I have attended public worship in all countries and with all sects and believe them all much better than no religion, though I have not thought myself obliged to believe all I heard.—
[A] great Empire, like a great Cake, is most easily diminished at the Edges.—
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.—
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.—
Such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.—
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.—
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.—
Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty?—
The said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of The United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.—
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom–go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!—
To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.—
Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual…but rather he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.—
In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.—
