Thomas Paine
"Society in every state is a blessing, but
government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its
worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to
the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country
without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we
furnish the means by which we suffer."
-- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
Saint George Tucker
"Here,
let us again pause, and reflect, how admirably this division, and
distribution of legislative power is adapted to preserve the liberty,
and to promote the happiness of the people of the United
States?Fifthly, and lastly; by the separation of the judiciary from the
legislative department; and the independence of the former, of the
control, or influence of the latter, in any case where any individual
may be aggrieved or oppressed, under colour of an unconstitutional act
of the legislature, or executive. In England, on the contrary, the
greatest political object may be attained, by laws, apparently of
little importance, or amounting only to a slight domestic regulation:
the game-laws, as was before observed, have been converted into the
means of disarming the body of the people:??
--Saint George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Volume 1,
Appendix, Note D
"The
congress of the United States possesses no power to regulate, or
interfere with the domestic concerns, or police of any state: it
belongs not to them to establish any rules respecting the rights of
property; nor will the constitution permit any prohibition of arms to
the people;?"
--Saint George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Volume 1,
Appendix, Note D
"If,
for example, a law be passed by congress, prohibiting the free exercise
of religion, according to the dictates, or persuasions of a man's own
conscience or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people to assemble peaceably, or to keep and bear arms; it
would, in any of these cases, be the province of the judiciary to
pronounce whether any such act were constitutional, or not; and if not,
to acquit the accused from any penalty which might be annexed to the
breach of such unconstitutional act."
--Saint George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Volume 1,
Appendix, Note D
John Whitherspoon
"Democracy cannot subsist long; it is subject to the madness of popular
rage."
--John Whitherspoon
Benjamin Rush
"A simple democracy is one of the greatest evils."
--Benjamin Rush
George Washington
"If
in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the
constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected
by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates, but let
there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance may
be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free
governments are destroyed."
-- George Washington, Farewell AddressSeptember? 17, 1796
"A free people ought not only to be armed?"
--George Washington, speech of January 8, 1790 in the Boston
Independent Chronicle, January 14, 1790
"It
has demonstrated that our prosperity rests on solid foundations, by
furnishing an additional that my fellow citizens understand the true
principles of government and liberty; that they feel their inseparable
union; that notwithstanding all the devices which have been used to
sway them from their interest and duty, they are not as ready to
maintain the authority of the laws against licentious invasions as they
were to defend their rights against usurpation."
--President George Washington, Sixth Annual Message to Congress,
November 19, 1794
You
do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the
religion of Jesus Christ. . . . Congress will do everything they can to
assist you in this wise intention.
--George Washington
I now
make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over
which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the
hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and
obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love
for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at
large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the
Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose
us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that
Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the
Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and
without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can
never hope to be a happy Nation.
--George Washington, Circular letter of farewell to the Army, 8 June
1783
No
people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which
conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States.
Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an
independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of
providential agency.
--George Washington, First Inaugural Address, 30 April 1789
The
propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that
disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself
has ordained.
--George Washington, First Inaugural Address, 30 April 1789
While
all men within our territories are protected in worshipping the Deity
according to the dictates of their consciences; it is rationally
expected from them in return, that they will be emulous of evincing the
sanctity of their professions by the innocence of their lives, and the
beneficence of their actions: for no man, who is profligate in his
morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can possibly be a true
Christian, or a credit to his own religious society.
--George Washington, Letter to General Assembly of Presbyterian
Churches, May 1789
I
have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself
as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious
opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to
the dictates of his own conscience.
--George Washington, Letter to the General Committee of the United
Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 1789
Of
all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that
man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these
great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of
Men and Citizens.? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that
morality can be maintained without religion.? Reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in
exclusion of religious principle.
--George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
Without
virtue and without integrity the finest talents or the most brilliant
accomplishments can never gain the respect or conciliate the esteem of
the truly valuable part of mankind.
--George Washington, Letter to Bartholomew Dandridge, 8 March 1797
"To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of
preserving peace."
-- George Washington, First Annual Message, January 8, 1790
Daniel Webster
Hold
on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it
stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000
years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the
American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the
world.
--Daniel Webster
"Good intentions will always be
pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to
say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the
dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to
govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters,
but they mean to be masters."
--Daniel Webster
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