Care to post them?
I think these quotes are good evidence that the intellectualls who founded our great country are closer to the modern libertarian viewpoint rather than most of religous right posters on FR who want the government to impose thier idea of morality on others.
Right, it's your morality that we must all abide by. We have no rights or power to elect reprsentatives who will pass laws in our towns and states that we agree with. We must be governed by a libertarian Washington DC. Federalism and local control over local issues? Pshaw, who needs that when we can be lorded over by a nice strong central power.
The funny thing is that everyone sees what they want to see. But there is only one reality, and that can be discovered only by reading large amounts of their writings as well as source info. They were not Libertarian in that they believed virtue mattered. They were not liberals in that they believed government was more of the problem than the answer. They were way more small gov't than most contemporary conservatives, but they probably believed in more local government on social issues than liberals or libertarians care to acknowledge. They believed in ordered liberty and natural law. They definitely believed in man's sin nature, and that is what made them so cautious of power concentrated in ANY hands.
Oh, and they believed in Intelligent Design. Ooooo, how "unconstituional" of them.
What makes you think that Christians who are Conservative want to impose their values on society?
I can think of no legislation that promotes Christianity by government fiat'.
I think most Christians want the government to leave THEM alone. A good example is Gay marriage. The constitutional amendment against Gay MArriage is not supported by me because I am a Christian. It is supported by me because I don't like some MAssachusetts Judge telling me what to think and denying the people a vote.
Did that make sense?
Arioch7 out.
utter nonsense. You are a victim of lies and revisionist history promoted by modern socialists who are of necessity anti-Christian.
Thomas Jefferson sounded far more of an evangelist than George Bush II.
Quotes by Thomas Jefferson
(from the University of Virginia)
2143. DEITY, Assistance Implored. --We commit our injuries to the even-handed justice of that Being, Who doth no wrong, earnestly beseeching Him to illuminate the councils, and prosper the endeavors of those to whom America hath confided her hopes, that through their wise direction we May again see reunited the blessings of liberty, property, and harmony with Great Britain. --
TITLE: Address Virginia House of Burgesses to Lord Dunmore.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 459.
DATE: June. 1775
2144. DEITY, Assistance Implored. -- [continued] . We devoutly implore assistance of Almighty God to conduct us happily through this great conflict. --
TITLE: Declaration on Taking up Arms.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 476.
DATE: July. 1775
2145. DEITY, Beneficence of. -- It hath pleased the Sovereign Disposer of all human events to give to this [Revolution] appeal an issue favorable to the rights of the States. --
TITLE: Proposed Constitution for Virginia.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 441.
EDITION: Ford ed., iii, 321.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1783
2146. DEITY, Deliver of the Distressed. -- <b>When the measure of their [the Slaves] tears shall be full, when their groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness, doubtless, a God of justice will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light and liberality among their oppressors, or, at length, by His exterminating thunder, manifest His attention to the things of this world, and that they are not left to the guidance of a blind fatality.</b> --
TITLE: To M. de Meunier.
EDITION: Washington ed. ix, 279.
EDITION: Ford ed., iv, 185.
PLACE: Paris
DATE: 1786
2147. DEITY, Existence of. -- I think that every Christian sect gives a great handle to atheism by their general dogma, that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of a God. Now, one-sixth of mankind only are supposed to be Christians; the other five-sixths, then, who do not believe in the Jewish and Christian revelation, are without a knowledge of the existence of a God! This gives completely a gain de cause to the disciples of Ocellus, Timoeus, Spinosa, Diderot and D'Holbach. The argument which they rest on as triumphant and unanswerable is, that in every hypothesis of cosmogony, you must admit an eternal pre-existence of something; and according to the rule of sound philosophy, you are never to employ two principles to solve a difficulty when one will suffice. They say, then, that it is more simple to believe at once in the eternal pre-existence of the world, as it is now going on, and may forever go on by the principle of reproduction which we see and witness, than to believe in the eternal pre-existence of an ulterior cause, or Creator of the world, a Being whom we see not and know not, of whose form, substance, and mode, or place of existence, or of action, no sense informs us, no power of the mind enables us to delineate or comprehend. On the contrary, I hold (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the universe, in all its parts, general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of its composition. The movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces; the structure of our earth itself, with its distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere; animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest particles; insects, mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organized as man or mammoth; the mineral substances, their generation and uses; it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe, that there is in all this, design, cause, and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms, and their regeneration into new and other forms. We see, too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending power. to maintain the universe in its course and order. Stars, well known, have disappeared, new ones have come into view; comets in their incalculable courses, may run foul of suns and planets, and require renovation under other laws; certain races of animals are become extinct; and were there no restoring power. all existences might extinguish successively, one by one, until all should be reduced to a shapeless chaos. So irresistible are these evidences of an intelligent and powerful agent, that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed through all time, they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to a unit, in the hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a
-249- [Col 1] Creator, rather than in that of a self-existent universe. Surely this unanimous sentiment renders this more probable, than that of the few in the other hypothesis. Some early Christians, indeed, have believed in the coeternal pre-existence of both the Creator and the world, without changing their relation of cause and effect. That this was the opinion of St. Thomas, we are informed by Cardinal Toleta. --
small | largeTITLE: To John Adams.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 281.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1823
2148. DEITY, Favor Invoked. -- <b>May that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. --</b>
TITLE: First Inaugural Address.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 5.
EDITION: Ford ed., viii, 6.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1801
2149. DEITY, Goodness of. -- When we assemble together to consider the state of our beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn to those pleasing circumstances which mark the goodness of that Being from whose favor they flow, and the large measure of thankfulness we owe for His bounty. --
TITLE: Second Annual Message.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 15.
EDITION: Ford ed., viii, 181.
DATE: Dec. 1802
2150. DEITY, Gratitude to the. -- While we devoutly return thanks to the Beneficent Being who has been pleased to breath into our sister nations the spirit of conciliation and forgiveness, we are bound with peculiar gratitude to be thankful to Him that our own peace has been preserved. --
TITLE: First Annual Message.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 6.
EDITION: Ford ed., viii, 109.
DATE: Dec. 1801
2151. DEITY, Inalienable Rights and. -- All men are [* * *] endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights. --
TITLE: Declaration of Independence as Drawn by Jefferson.
2152. DEITY, Liberty and the. -- We [* * *] most solemnly, before God and the world declare that, [* * *] the arms we have been compelled to assume we will use with perseverance, exerting to their utmost energies all those powers which our Creator hath given us, to preserve that liberty which He committed to us in sacred deposit [* * *] . --
TITLE: Declaration on Taking up Arms.
EDITION: Ford ed., i, 476.
DATE: July. 1775
2153. DEITY, National Equality and the. -- When [* * *] it becomes necessary for one people [* * *] to assume among the powers of the earth the [* * *] equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them [* * *] . --
TITLE: Declaration of Independence as Drawn by Jefferson.
2154. DEITY, An Overruling. -- We are not in a world ungoverned by the laws and the power of a Superior Agent. Our efforts are in His hand, and directed by it; and He will give them their effect in His own time. 138 --
TITLE: To David Barrow.
EDITION: Washington ed. vi, 456.
EDITION: Ford ed., ix, 516.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1815
2155. DEITY, Prayers to. -- I offer my sincere prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, that He may long preserve our country in freedom and prosperity. --
TITLE: To Benjamin Waring.
EDITION: Washington ed. iv, 379.
PLACE: Washington
DATE: March. 1801
2156. DEITY, Prayers to. -- [continued] . I join in addressing Him whose Kingdom ruleth over all, to direct the administration of their affairs to their own greatest good. --
TITLE: Reply to Vermont Address.
EDITION: Washington ed. iv, 419.
PLACE: Washington
DATE: 1801
2157. DEITY, Prayers to. -- [Further continued] . That the Supreme Ruler of the universe may have our country under His special care, will be among the latest of my prayers. --
TITLE: R. to A. Virginia Assembly.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 149.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1809
2158. DEITY, Protection of. -- <b>We join you [Washington] in commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, beseeching Him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation. And for you we address to Him our earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be fostered with all His care; that your days may be happy as they have been illustrious; and that He will finally give you that reward which this world cannot give.</b> 139 --
TITLE: Address of Congress to General Washington.
EDITION: Rayner's Life of Jefferson, 226.
2159. DEITY, Protection of. -- [continued] . I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the Common Father and Creator of man. --
TITLE: R. to A. Danbury Baptists.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 114.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1802
2160. DEITY, Submission to. -- Whatever is to be our destiny, wisdom as well as duty, dictates that we should acquiesce in the will of Him whose it is to give and take away, and be contented in the enjoyment of those who are still permitted to be with us. --
TITLE: To John Page.
EDITION: Washington ed. iv, 547.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1804
2161. DEITY, Supplications to. -- I shall need the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, Who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; Who has covered our infancy with His providence, and our riper years with His wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations. --
TITLE: Second Inaugural Address.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 45.
EDITION: Ford ed., viii, 347.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1805
2162. DEITY, Supplications to. -- [continued] . I return your kind prayers with supplications to the same Almighty Being for your future welfare and that of our beloved country. --
TITLE: R. to A. of Baltimore Baptists.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 138.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1808
-250- [Col 1]
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2163. DEITY, Supplications to. -- [Further continued] . I supplicate the Being in whose hands we all are, to preserve our country in freedom and independence, and to bestow on yourselves the blessings of His favor. --
TITLE: R. to A. North Carolina Legislature.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 126.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1808
2164. DEITY, Supplications to. -- [Further continued] . I join in supplications to that Almighty Being, Who has heretofore guarded our councils, still to continue His gracious benedictions towards our country. --
TITLE: R. to A. New London Republicans.
EDITION: Washington ed. viii, 152.
PLACE: [none given]
DATE: 1809
6487. PEACE, The Deity and. -- I bless the Almighty Being, Who, in gathering together the waters under the heavens into one place, divided the dry land of your hemisphere from the dry lands of ours, and said, at least be there peace. --
TITLE: To Earl of Buchan.
EDITION: Washington ed. iv, 493.
PLACE: Washington
DATE: 1803