Posted on 03/16/2004 3:33:41 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
-- Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
-- Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Notes on the State of Virginia 1781-1785
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 the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.
-- August 19, 1785
What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion?... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
-- January 30, 1787
The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.
-- March 11, 1790
We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.
-- April 2, 1790
In questions of power let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.
-- Kentucky Resolution, 1798
[A] wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities ....
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none;... freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.
-- First Inaugural Address March 4, 1801
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.
-- March 31, 1809
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
-- January 6, 1816
Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
-- April 24, 1816
When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.
-- 1821
[T]he flames kindled on the fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.
-- September 12, 1821
"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 the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions."
Thoughtful fellow.
The dimocrats hate this one for sure...it goes against every socialist bone in their decrepit bodies.
Elevate a liberal: Convince him to become ignorant.
What's this? Jefferson was a Neocon and a Trotskyite? Oh wait, Jefferson was well before Trotsky... Oh, could it be that the American revolution was more fiery and more virulent than the communist rising ever was?
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