James Madison: “There are More Instances of the Abridgment of Freedom… by Gradual & Silent Encroachments of Those in Power than by Violent and Sudden Usurpations.”
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: ““Guard with jealous attention the public liberty…”
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.” ...
George Washington: “It (is)… little short of a miracle, that the delegates from so many different states should unite in forming a system of national Government”
In a letter from Washington to Lafayette on 7 Feb. 1788: “It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the delegates from so many different states (which states you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices) should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well-founded objections.” - quoted in Catherine Drinker Bowen, ...
Washington: “(The U.S.A. is safe from Oppression) so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the people.”
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, ...
Ben Franklin: “…There are Two Passions Which have a Powerful Influence in the Affairs of Men – the Love of Power and the Love of Money.”
Ben Franklin address at the Constitutional Convention titled “Dangers of a Salaried Bureaucracy,” June 2, 1787: "It is with reluctance that I rise to express a disapprobation of any one article of the plan for which we are so much obliged to the honorable gentlemen who laid it before us. From its first reading I have borne a good will to it, and, in general, wished ...
Thomas Jefferson: “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
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 ...
George Washington: “Paper money will… ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice”
But if in the pursuit of the means we should unfortunately stumble again on unfunded paper money or any similar species of fraud, we shall assuredly give a fatal stab to our national credit in its infancy. Paper money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them. Paper money has ...
Thomas Jefferson on Farmers: “They are the Most Vigorous, the Most Independent, the Most Virtuous, and they are Tied to their Country and… it’s Liberty”
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." ...
George Washington to Officers: “the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter”
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 ...
John Paul Jones Refuses to Surrender to the British on his Sinking Ship: “I have not yet begun to fight!”
There are many different versions of the phrasing of what Continental Navy Captain John Paul Jones yelled at Royal Navy Captain Richard Pearson during the battle with H.M.S. Serapis, but no matter what Jones said, the circumstance and spirit of his famous retort is probably more meaningful. Make no mistake; John Paul Jones was an absolute nautical bad ass, as his early life and career indicates ...
