John Adams

Independence forever.
John Adams' last public words as a toast for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.
John Adams, A Defense of the American Constitutions, 1787

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

Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few.
John Adams, An Essay on Man's Lust for Power, 1763

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.
John Adams, Defense of the Constitutions, 1787

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

Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God... Let it be known that British liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments.
John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765

"Yesterday the greatest question was decided... and a greater question perhaps never was nor will be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."
John Adams, Letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

"Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people . . . . This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution."
John Adams, 1818

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."
John Adams

"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, 1765

"Let justice be done though the heavens should fall."
John Adams in a letter in 1777

. . .who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers.
John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
John Adams, in Defense of the British Soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre, 1770

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever.
John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1775

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1780

It has ever been my hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we can.
John Adams, letter to Count Sarsfield, February 3, 1786

Let justice be done though the heavens should fall.
John Adams, letter to Elbridge Gerry, December 5, 1777

Men must be ready, they must pride themselves and be happy to sacrifice their private pleasures, passions and interests, nay, their private friendships and dearest connections, when they stand in competition with the rights of society.
John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, April 16, 1776

The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what names you please, sigh and groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth must be established in America.
John Adams, letter to Patrick Henry, June 3, 1776

Objects of the most stupendous magnitude, and measure in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn are intimately interested, are now before us. We are in the very midst of a revolution the most complete, unexpected and remarkable of any in the history of nations.
John Adams, letter to William Cushing, June 9, 1776

They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men.
John Adams, Nocangul No. 7, 1775

The committee met, discussed the subject, [of the Declaration of Independence] and then appointed Mr. Jefferson and me to make the draught, I suppose because we were the two first on the list. The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me to make the draught. Adams: I will not. Jefferson: You should do it. Adams: Oh! no. Jefferson: Why will you not? You ought to do it. Adams: I will not. Jefferson: Why? Adams: Reasons enough. Jefferson: What can be your reasons? Adams: Reason first -- You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second -- I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third -- You can write ten times better than I can. Jefferson: Well if you are decided, I will do as well as I can. Adams: Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting.
John Adams, on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence

If men through fear, fraud or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the great end of society, would absolutely vacate such renunciation; the right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave.
John Adams, Rights of the Colonists, 1772

Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty. There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration of virtue. These amiable passions, are the "latent spark" ... If the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than to the sense of this difference.
John Adams, the Novanglus, 1775

[J]udges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

[J]udges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general. That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

As good government is an empire of laws, how shall your laws be made? In a large society, inhabiting an extensive country, it is impossible that the whole should assemble to make laws. The first necessary step, then, is to depute power from the many to a few of the most wise and good.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection; and to give his personal service, or an equivalent, when necessary. But no part of the property of any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people. In fine, the people of this commonwealth are not controllable by any other laws than those to which their constitutional representative body have given their consent.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

That, as a republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangements of the powers of society, or, in other words, that form of government which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of the laws, is the best of republics.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, and both should be checks upon that.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow that the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest numbers of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

I have accepted a seat in the [Massachusetts] House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and the ruin of our children. I give you this warning, that you may prepare your mind for your fate.
John Adams, to Abigail Adams, 1770

"What a glorious morning for America!"
Samuel Adams, When the first shots were fired at Concord and Lexington, 1776

"Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in the matters of conscience direct their course to this happy country as the last asylum."
Samuel Adams, Speech, 1776

"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."
Samuel Adams, 1779

Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.
Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749

No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775

Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775

The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775

Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, April 16, 1776

A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779

The resulting Battle of Guilford Court House is considered by some to be the hardest-fought of the entire war; "I never saw such fighting," Cornwallis later declared, "since God made me."
Lord Charles Cornwallis

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."
Benjamin Franklin

"I cannot but lament . . . the impending Calamities Britain and her Colonies are about to suffer, from great Imprudencies on both Sides -- Passion governs, and she never governs wisely -- Anxiety begins to disturb my Rest."
Benjamin Franklin, 1775

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Ben Franklin, 1759

History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened.
Benjamin Franklin

I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
Benjamin Franklin

No nation was ever ruined by trade, even seemingly the most disadvantageous.
Benjamin Franklin and George Whaley, Principles of Trade, 1774

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
Benjamin Franklin, (attributed) at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Benjamin Franklin, Advice to Young Tradesman, 1748

Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils.
Benjamin Franklin, An Address to the Public, November, 1789

Human Felicity is produced not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every Day.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771

In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will now and then peek out and show itself.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771

Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771

This gave me occasion to observe, that when Men are employ'd they are best contented. For on the Days they work'd they were good-natur'd and chearful; and with the consciousness of having done a good Days work they spent the Evenings jollily; but on the idle Days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their Pork, the Bread, &c. and in continual ill-humour.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771

The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy.
Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations, 1774

He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
Benjamin Franklin, from his writings, 1758

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Where liberty dwells, there is my country.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Benjamin Vaughn, March 14, 1783

Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Collinson, 1753

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, November 13, 1789

Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to John Alleyne, 1768

It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Samuel Cooper, May 1, 1777

[E]very Man who comes among us, and takes up a piece of Land, becomes a Citizen, and by our Constitution has a Voice in Elections, and a share in the Government of the Country.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to William Straham, 1784

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, 1766

It is very imprudent to deprive America of any of her privileges. If her commerce and friendship are of any importance to you, they are to be had on no other terms than leaving her in the full enjoyment of her rights.
Benjamin Franklin, Political Observations

A penny saved is twopence clear.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

Have you something to do to-morrow; do it to-day.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

Strive to be the greatest man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

A fine genius in his own country is like gold in the mine.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1733

How many observe Christ's birth-day! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1743

Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1746

A Spoonful of Honey will catch more Flies than a Gallon of Vinager.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1748

 Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1749

Work as if you were to live 100 Years, Pray as if you were to die To-morrow.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1757

And as to the Cares, they are chiefly what attend the bringing up of Children; and I would ask any Man who has experienced it, if they are not the most delightful Cares in the World; and if from that Particular alone, he does not find the Bliss of a double State much greater, instead of being less than he expected.
Benjamin Franklin, Reply to a Piece of Advice, 1735

 To the haranguers of the populace among the ancients, succeed among the moderns your writers of political pamphlets and news-papers, and your coffee-house talkers.
Benjamin Franklin, Reply to Coffee House Orators, 1767

The happy State of Matrimony is, undoubtedly, the surest and most lasting Foundation of Comfort and Love; the Source of all that endearing Tenderness and Affection which arises from Relation and Affinity; the grand Point of Property; the Cause of all good Order in the World, and what alone preserves it from the utmost Confusion; and, to sum up all, the Appointment of infinite Wisdom for these great and good Purposes.
Benjamin Franklin, Rules and Maxims for Promoting Matrimonial Happiness, 1730

 Strangers are welcome because there is room enough for them all, and therefore the old Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them sufficiently so that they have no need of the Patronage of great Men; and every one will enjoy securely the Profits of his Industry. But if he does not bring a Fortune with him, he must work and be industrious to live.
Benjamin Franklin, Those Who Would Remove to America, February, 1784

Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.
Benjamin Franklin, writing as Silence Dogood, No. 8, 1722

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
Ben Franklin, 1766

"The war has actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!"
Nathanael Greene, In an anonymous letter, 1781

"Every kind of of service, necessary to the public good, becomes honorable by being necessary."
Nathan Hale, when his friend, Captain William Hull, was accused of crossing enemy lines, 1776

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
Nathan Hale, before being hanged by the British, September 22, 1776

"There, I guess King George will be able to read that."
John Hancock, Remark, July 4, 1776

". . .In defence of the freedom that is our birthright. . .we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the agressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before." John Hancock,
In his pamphlet, Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of taking up Arms, July 6, 1775. From Revolution to Reconstruction

Upon General Howe's arrival to New York in 1776, a loyalist wrote this about him:
"He comes, he comes, the Hero comes,
Sound, sound your trumpets, beat your drums.
From port to port let cannon roar
Howe's welcome to this Western shore."

"If this be treason, make the most of it."
Patrick Henry, n.d.

"The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, New Englanders are no more. I AM NOT A VIRGINIAN, BUT AN AMERICAN!"
Patrick Henry, n.d.

"I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."
Patrick Henry, n.d.

 "The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable; and let it come! I repeat, Sir, let it come!"
Patrick Henry

 "They tell us Sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power."
Patrick Henry

"Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us."
Patrick Henry

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Convention, 1775

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Convention, 1775

Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings -- give us that precious jewel, and you may take every thing else! Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.
Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Everything we do is to improve it, if it happens in our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendants, together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot and an abhorrence of slavery.
Patrick Henry on slavery in a letter to Robert Pleasants, January 18, 1773

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

If you speak of solid information and sound judgement, Colonel Washington is, unquestionably the greatest man on that floor.
Patrick Henry, about George Washington, 1775

 "Equal, and exact justice of all men, ...freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under the protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected,- these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us."
Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801

"I do not think that you can do better than to fix here for a while, till you can become again Americanized."
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Barlow, 1802

 "The cement of this union is in the heart blood of every American."
Thomas Jefferson, Writings, n.d.

"When any one state in the American Union refuses obedience to the Confederation by which they have bound themselves, the rest have a natural right to compel obedience."
Thomas Jefferson, Writings, n.d.

They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please ... Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.
Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on National Bank, 1791

Our properties within our own territories [should not] be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.
Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774

That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes a free people claiming their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774

 The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.
Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774

It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a 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 disposition.
Thomas Jefferson

It behooves you, therefore, to think and act for yourself and your people. The great principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader; to pursue them requires not the aid of many counselors. The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.
Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1775

 For Heaven's sake discard the monstrous wig which makes the English judges look like rats peeping through bunches of oakum.
Thomas Jefferson, commenting on judges' apparel

 The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Abigail Adams, February 22, 1787

The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had give them. The constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberation, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to David Humphreys, March 18, 1789

 The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to E. Carrington, May 27, 1788

 The foundation on which all [constitutions] are built is the natural equality of man, the denial of every preeminence but that annexed to legal office, and particularly the denial of a preeminence by birth.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Washington, 1784

 But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are forming that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself can validly contract more debt, than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19 years.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, September 6, 1789

Natural rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Monroe, 1791

 I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, July 7, 1785

It is a happy circumstance in human affairs that evils which are not cured in one way will cure themselves in some other.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Sinclair, 1791

 Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing. And that you may be always doing good, my dear, is the ardent prayer of yours affectionately.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Martha Jefferson, May 5, 1787 

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you ... From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

 The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Hunter

 What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Stephens Smith, 1787

 But of all the views of this law none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty. For this purpose the reading in the first stage, where they will receive their whole education, is proposed, as has been said, to be chiefly historical. History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781

 History by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17, 1782

There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us. The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781

It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 19, 1781

On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, Query 12, 1782

It is an established rule of construction, where a phrase will bear either of two meanings to give it that which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that which will render all the others useless. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given to them. It was intended to lace them up straitly with in the enumerated powers.
Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, 1791

"That these are our grievances which we have thus laid before his majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment which becomes a free people claiming their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate."
Thomas Jefferson, 1774

"General Washington has set the example of voluntary retirement after eight years. I shall follow it. And a few more precedents will oppose the obstacle of habit and to anyone who after a while shall endeavor to extend his term."
Thomas Jefferson, Writings, n.d.

"All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Thomas Jefferson, In the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

"I cannot conclude without mentioning how sensibly I feel the dismemberment of America from this empire, and that I should be miserable indeed if I did not feel that no blame on that account can be laid at my door, and I did not also know that knavery seems to be so much the striking feature of its inhabitants that it may not in the end be an evil that they will become aliens to this kingdom."
King George III, Letter to Shelburne, 1782

"The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph.... we must not retreat."
King George III, In a letter to Lord North, 1774

Resolved: That these colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved of all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective colonies for their consideration and approbation.
Richard Lee, Resolution in Congress, June 7, 1776

"These are the times that try men's' souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; bur that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny.....is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
Thomas Paine, Intro to the The Crisis, December 19, 1776

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
Thomas Paine

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
Thomas Paine, 1776

Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776

Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'tis time to part.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families."
Benjamin Rush, 1773

The American war is over; but this far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government, and to prepare the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens for these forms of government after they are established and brought to perfection.
Benjamin Rush, May 25, 1786

"Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit -- appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free."
Joseph Warren, 1775

"It is not yet too late to accommodate the dispute amicably, but I am of the opinion that if once General Gage should lead his troops into the country with the design to enforce the late acts of Parliament, Great Britain may take her leave, at least of the New England colonies, and if I mistake not, of all America. If there is any wisdom in the nation, God grant it may be speedily called forth!"
About General Thomas Gage, an Englishman with an American wife. Gage was in command of the garrison at Boston.
Dr. Joseph Warren wrote this to an English friend on February 20 1775.

Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit -- appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free ....
Joseph Warren, American account of the Battle of Lexington, 1775

 Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.
Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre Oration, 1775

"Our situation is truly delicate & critical. On the one hand we are in need of a strong federal government founded on principles that will support the prosperity & union of the colonies. on the other we have struggled for liberty & made costly sacrifices at her shrine and there are still many among us who revere her name to much to relinquish (beyond a certain medium) the rights of man for the dignity of government."
Mercy Otis Warren
September 29, 1787

"Mankind may amuse themselves with theoretic systems of liberty, and trace its social and moral effects on sciences, virtue, industry and every improvement of which the human mind is capable; but we can only discern its true value by the practical and wretched effects of slavery; and thus dreadfully will they be realized, when the inhabitants of the Eastern States are dragging out a miserable existence, only on the gleanings of their fields; and the Southern, blessed with a softer and more fertile climate, are languishing in hopeless poverty; and when asked, what is become of the flower of their crop, and the rich produce of their farms-they may answer in the hapless stile of the Man of La Mancha,-" The steward of my Lord has seized and sent it to Madrid." Or, in the more literal language of truth, The exigencies of government require that the collectors of the revenue should transmit it to the Federal City."
Mercy Otis Warren

"Nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A peace on other terms would..... be a peace of war."
George Washington, Letter to John Banister, 1778

"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event which is in the hands of God."
George Washington, Constitutional Convention, 1787

"Unhappy it is, though, to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast and that the once-happy plains of America are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"
George Washington in a letter to a friend

 "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally stacked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."
George Washington, First Inaugural Address, 1789

"The injuries wehave received from the British nation were so unprovoked, and have been so great and so many, that they can never be forgotten."
George Washington, Letter to John Banister, 1778

"We began a contest for liberty ill provided with the means for the war, relying on our patriotism to supply the deficiency. We expected to encounter many wants and distressed… we must bear the present evils and fortitude…"
George Washington in 1781

"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are free men, fighting for the blessings of Liberty -- that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men."
George Washington, 1776

"Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind, in the service of my country."
George Washington to officers of the Continental Army

"Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions -- The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny mediated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a free man contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."
George Washington, 1776

"Unhappy it is, though, to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast and that the once-happy plains of America are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"
George Washington in a letter to a friend

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
George Washington, letter to James Madison, March 2, 1788

Your love of liberty -- your respect for the laws -- your habits of industry -- and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness.
George Washington, letter to the Residents of Boston, October 27, 1789

There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come.
Peter Muhlenberg, from a Lutheran sermon read at Woodstock, Virginia, January 1776

 "The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their Liberties, and their mutual and general welfare."
Articles of Confederation

"We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great Britain, and establishing independent states. We fight not for glory or for conquest."
Second Continental Congress

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 pursuit of Happiness: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Declaration of Independence

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 they Law of Nature and 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.
Declaration of Independence

"One if by land two if by sea."
Paul Revere, on his Midnight Ride, 1775

 Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.
Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787

All good men wish the entire abolition of slavery, as soon as it can take place with safety to the public, and for the lasting good of the present wretched race of slaves. The only possible step that could be taken towards it by the convention was to fix a period after which they should not be imported.
Oliver Ellsworth, The Landholder, December 10, 1787

Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.
Continental Congress Declaration, 1775

[W]hereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them; nor does it follow from this, that all promiscuously must go into actual service on every occasion. The mind that aims at a select militia, must be influenced by a truly anti-republican principle; and when we see many men disposed to practice upon it, whenever they can prevail, no wonder true republicans are for carefully guarding against it.
Federal Farmer, Antifederalist Letter, No.18, January 25, 1778

Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the few not for the many.
Federalist No. 62, 1788

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be to-morrow.
Federalist No. 62, 1788

The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty.
Fisher Ames, speech in the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, January 15, 1788

We are not to consider ourselves, while here, as at church or school, to listen to the harangues of speculative piety; we are here to talk of the political interests committed to our charge.
Fisher Ames, speech in the United States House of Representatives, 1789

With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live as slaves.
John Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Cause and Necessity of Taking up Arms, July 6, 1775

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.
John Paul Jones, letter to M. Le Ray de Chaumont, November 16, 1778

I have not yet begun to fight!
John Paul Jones, response to enemy demand to surrender, September 23, 1779

There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.
John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776

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