Individual Rights

James Madison (1751-1836) helped frame the Bill of Rights, member of the Continental Congress and rapporteur at the Constitutional Convention in 1776 and 4th President of the United States: In an address to the Virginia Convention he said: 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 ...

Patrick Henry, speech before the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788:  “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” ...

In a letter to Marquis De Lafayette, February 7, 1788, George Washington wrote this: [T]he [federal] government . . . can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, and oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any other despotic or oppressive form so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the people. (Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, ...

In 1781, Virginia began by ceding its extensive land claims to Congress, a move that made other states more comfortable in doing the same. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson first proposed a method of incorporating these western territories into the United States. His plan effectively turned the territories into colonies of the existing states. Ten new northwestern territories would select the constitution of an existing state and ...

This is actually a translation of a Latin phrase that Thomas Jefferson used: Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. It has also been translated as, "I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude." Paris Jan. 30. 1787. Dear Sir My last to you was of the 16th of Dec. since which I have received yours of Nov. 25. and Dec. 4. which afforded ...

Religious Freedom Day is celebrated in America each year on January 16 — the date of the 1786 passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. That measure ended the state-established church in Virginia and for the first time placed all denominations on the same legal footing. That act fully protected the right of religious conscience — one of the first rights protected in America ...

Thomas Jefferson Letter to John Jay, August 23, 1785: "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it's liberty and interests by the most lasting bands." ...

By the summer of 1783, the newly formed United States had won the War of Independence, but the survival of the nation remained far from certain. A final peace treaty with Great Britain had yet to be signed, the state governments remained hesitant to yield to Congress’ authority, and the army restlessly waited to be mustered out of service. A few months prior, several officers had threatened ...

George Washington to the General, Field, & other Officers Assembled at the New Building pursuant to the General Order of the 11th Instant March. Head Quarters Newburgh 15th of March 1783 Gentlemen, By an anonymous summons, an attempt has been made to convene you together—how inconsistent with the rules of propriety! how unmilitary! and how subversive of all order and discipline—let the good sense of the ...

Francis Marion, the inspiration for Benjamin Martin's character in the movie The Patriot, was much more than a knife-between-the-teeth warrior; he's a man who had obviously thought deeply about the local political economy. In one passage, Marion observes that the white population of his state “form but two classes, the rich and the poor.” The poor, he continues, might not be slaves, but monetarily speaking, they ...