“Not until I went into the Churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness, did I understand the reason for her genius & power."
“What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?
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!"
Patrick Henry - March 23, 1775
“A government big enough to give you everything you want,
is strong enough to take everything you have.”
Thomas Jefferson
“Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.” Benjamin Franklin “We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth. For my part, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” Patrick Henry
John Marshall, McCullough v. Maryland, 1819
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779
Since private and publick Vices, are in Reality, though not always apparently, so nearly connected, of how much Importance, how necessary is it, that the utmost Pains be taken by the Publick, to have the Principles of Virtue early inculcated on the Minds even of children, and the moral Sense kept alive, and that the wise institutions of our Ancestors for these great Purposes be encouraged by the Government. For no people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the
Aid of foreign Invaders.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence, it is force!
Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
George Washington
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence,
raised in the United States.
Noah Webster, An Examination into the
Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, 1787
That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
The Virginia Bill of Rights, June 12, 1776
That the people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and protection of the community will admit; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
Recommended Bill of Rights from the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 27, 1778
The most important consequence of marriage is, that the husband and the wife become in law only one person... Upon this principle of union, almost all the other legal consequences of marriage depend. This principle, sublime and refined, deserves to be viewed and examined on every side.
James Wilson, Of the Natural Rights of Individuals, 1792
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, Bill of Rights, December 15, 1791
"I encourage you to take on the mantle of fearless, thoughtful,
but loyal dissent when the situation calls for it."
Robert Gates, Sec. of Defense
“Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them
if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.”
Thomas Jefferson
“Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile.
And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!”
William Wallace
“No body of men will be argued into slavery.”
Edmund Burke
“If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we will make violent revolution inevitable.”
John F. Kennedy
If Virtue & Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav'd.
This will be their great Security.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779
One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house.
A man's house is his castle.
James Otis, On the Writs of Assistance, 1761
Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.
Leviticus 25:10, Inscription on the Liberty Bell
“The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.”
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people
by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power
than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison
"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private charter gave effulgence to his public virtues. Such was the man for whom our nation morns ."
John Marshall, official eulogy of George Washington,
delivered by Richard Henry Lee, December 26, 1799
