| "Let
the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance,
bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors;
and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of
transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings
of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion,
and independence." |
Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution,
1833) Reference: Story, Commentaries on the Constitution,
718.
|
| "Children
should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom." |
John
Adams (Defense of the Constitutions, 1787) Reference: The
Learning of Liberty, Prangle and Prangle (96); original
The Works of John Adams, C.F. Adams, ed., vol. 6 (168)
|
| "The
value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the
difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated
by the trial of adversity." |
George
Washington (letter to the people of South Carolina, Circa
(1790) Reference: Maxims of George Washington, Schroeder,
ed. (16); original The Writings of Thomas Jefferson,
Fitzpatrick, ed., vol. 31 (67)
|
| "No
country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these
blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and
much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect
the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed
us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass." |
George
Washington (letter to Benjamin Lincoln, 29 June 1788) Reference:
George Washington: A Collection, W.B. Allen, ed. (403)
|
| "Liberty
must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived
from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and
bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates,
their pleasure, and their blood." |
John
Adams (A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765)
Reference: The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, Thompson,
ed. (28)
|
| "Men
of energy of character must have enemies; because there are
two sides to every question, and taking one with decision, and
acting on it with effect, those who take the other will of course
be hostile in proportion as they feel that effect." |
Thomas
Jefferson (letter to John Adams, 21 December 1817) Reference:
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Memorial Edition),
Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., 15:109.
|
|
| "Whatever
enables us to go to war, secures our peace." |
Thomas
Jefferson (letter to James Monroe, 24 October 1823) Reference:
Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, Foley (685); orignal The Writings
of Thomas Jefferson,
Ford, ed., vol. 5 (198)
|
| "Cherish,
therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention.
Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by
enlightening them." |
Thomas
Jefferson (letter to Edward Carrington, 16 January 1787)
Reference: Jefferson: Writings, Peterson ed., Library of
America(880)
|
| "How
could a readiness for war in time of peace be safely prohibited,
unless we could prohibit, in like manner, the preparations and
establishments of every hostile nation?" |
James
Madison (Federalist No. 41, 1788) Reference: The Federalist
|
| "I
only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." |
Nathan
Hale (before being hanged by the British, 22 September 1776)
Reference: The Spirit of `Seventy-Six, Commager and Morris
(476);
original
General William
Hull, Campbell
(37-38)
|
| "It
is important also to consider, that the surest means of avoiding
war is to be prepared for it in peace." |
Joseph
Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833) Reference:
Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 415.
|
| "No
people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be
easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved.
On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched
in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without
the Aid of foreign Invaders." |
Samuel
Adams (letter to James Warren, 4 November 1775) Reference:
Our Sacred Honor, Bennett (261)
|
| "It
should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds
of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate
their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt
of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an
ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If
we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will
grovel all their lives." |
John
Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756
|
|
