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A Grand Design of Providence
"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene
and design in Providence for the illumination of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth." --John Adams
Providence Has Given America to One United People
"With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice, that Providence has been pleased to give this one
connected country to one united people--a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same
language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their
manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long
and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence." --John Jay
The Invisible Hand of Providence Upon the People of the United States
"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.... We ought to be
no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal
rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained." --George Washington
An Asylum for Liberty in the New World
"We have had a hard struggle, but the Almighty has favored the just cause; and I join most heartily with
you in your prayers that he may perfect his work, and establish freedom in the new world as an asylum for those
of the old, who deserve it." --Benjamin Franklin
America--A Grand Experiment in Self-Government
"It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their
conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of
establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their
political constitutions on accident or force." --Alexander Hamilton
Private Property Rights Are a Key to the Survival of Liberty
"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God ... anarchy
and tyranny commence. Property must be secured or Liberty cannot exist." --John Adams
Separation of Powers Is Crucial to Avoid the Establishment of a Tyranny
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one,
a few, or many ... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." --James Madison
Strong Local and State Governments Are Needed to Prevent Tyranny in America
"When all government ... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless
the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as ... oppressive as the government from
which we separated.
"What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the
sun? The generalizing and concentrating of all cares and powers into one body.... The way to have sage
governments is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many.... It is by dividing and sub-dividing
these republics, from the great national one down ... that all will be done for the best." --Thomas Jefferson
Debt is Destructive of Liberty
". . . We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between
economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude." --Thomas Jefferson
The Doctrine of Federalism
"In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two
distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments.
Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at
the same time that each will be controlled by itself." --James Madison
The Federal Government Should Confine
Itself to Its Constitutional Powers
"It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution to those
entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres; avoiding
in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another.--The spirit of encroachment tends to
consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real
despotism.--A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human
heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position." --George Washington
The Federalist
"The best commentary on the principles of government which has ever been written." --Thomas Jefferson
"The Federalist ... is a complete commentary on our Constitution, and is appealed by all parties in the
question to which that instrument has given birth. Its intrinsic value entitles it to the highest rank, and the part
two of its authors performed in framing the Constitution put it very much in their power to explain the views with
which it was framed."--Chief Justice John Marshall
"The Federalist may fairly enough be regarded as the most authentic exposition of the text of the federal
constitution, as under stood by the body which prepared and the Authority which accepted it." --James Madison
"I know not, indeed, of any work on the principles of free government that is to be compared, in
instruction and in intrinsic value, to this small and unpretending volume of The Federalist; not even if we resort
to Aristotle, Cicero, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Milton, Locke, or Burke. It is equally admirable in the depths
of its wisdom, the comprehensiveness of its views, the sagacity of its reflections, and the fearlessness, candor,
simplicity, and elegance with which its truths are uttered and recommended." --Chancellor James Kent
The Federalist is "the most instructive work on political science ever written in the United States.... It
ranks first in the world's literature of political science." --Charles Beard
Religion and Morality Are Indispensable Ingredients of Republican Government
"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 labour to subvert
these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.--The mere
Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.--A volume could not trace all their
connexions with private and public felicity.--Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for
reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation
in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without
religion.--Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure--reason
and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
--George Washington
The Framers of Republican Government in America
"Whatever may be the judgment pronounced on the competency of the architects of the Constitution, or
whatever may be the destiny of the edifice prepared by them, I feel it is a duty to express my profound and
solemn conviction, derived from my intimate opportunity of observing and appreciating the views of the
Convention, collectively and individually, that there never was an assembly of men more pure in their motives,
or more exclusively or anxiously devoted to the object committed to them, than were the members of the Federal
Convention of 1787, to the object of devising and proposing a constitutional system which should best supply
the defects of that which it was to replace, and best secure the permanent liberty and happiness of their country."
--James Madison
An Enlightened and Committed People Are the Most Effective Way of Preserving Liberty
"Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have
been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the
lesson...? The people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government
they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently
free." --James Madison
Americans Are the Guardians of Liberty for Mankind
"We have now lived almost fifty years under the Constitution framed by the sages and patriots of the
Revolution.... Our Constitution is no longer a doubtful experiment; and, at the end of nearly a half century, we
find that it has preserved unimpaired the liberties of the people, secured the rights of property, and that our
country has improved and is flourishing beyond any former example in the history of nations....
"But the Constitution cannot be maintained nor the Union preserved in opposition to public feeling by
the mere exertion of the coercive powers confided to the General Government. The foundations must be laid
in the affections of the people; in the security it gives to life, liberty, character and property....
"It is well known that there have always been those amongst us who wish to enlarge the powers of the
General Government; and experience would seem to indicate that there is a tendency on the part of this
Government to overstep the boundaries marked out for it by the Constitution. Every attempt to exercise power
beyond these limits should be promptly and firmly opposed....
"Knowing that the path of freedom is continually beset by enemies who often assume the disguise of
friends, I have devoted the last hour of my public life to warn you of the danger. The progress of the United
States under our free and happy institutions has surpassed the most sanguine hopes of the founders of the
Republic. Our growth has been rapid beyond all former example, in numbers, in wealth, in knowledge, and all
the useful arts ... and from the earliest age of history to the present day, there never have been thirteen millions
of people associated together in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people
of the United States.... It is from within, among yourselves, from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed
ambition, and inordinate thirst for power, that factions will be formed and liberty endangered. It is against such
designs, whatever disguise the actors may assume, that you have especially to guard yourselves. You have the
highest of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered on this favored land blessings without
number and has chosen you as the guardians of freedom to preserve it for the benefit of the human race. May
He ... enable you, with pure hearts and pure hands and sleepless vigilance, to guard and defend to the end of time
the great charge he has committed to your keeping.... I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of
liberty...." --Andrew Jackson
Power Is Divided Among Two Distinct Governments
– The States and the National Government
"In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two
distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate governments.
Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at
the same time that each will be controlled by itself." --James Madison
"The Founding Fathers' vision of a limited national government of enumerated powers has gradually
given way to an expansive, intrusive, and virtually omnipotent national government. States, once the hub of
political activity and the very source of our political tradition, have been reduced--in a significant part--to
administrative units of the national government, their independent political power usurped by almost two
centuries of centralization....
"Federalism, as understood by the Framers of the Constitution, requires a recognition that the authority
of the national government extends to a few enumerated powers only and that all powers not delegated by the
States to the national government, nor denied to the States by the Constitution, are reserved to the States."
–Report of the Working Group on Federalism, Domestic Policy Council, White House, November 1986
The Principles of Federalism and State Sovereignty
The term federalism connotates a league of States which are free, sovereign and independent. In the
United States federalism refers to a constitutional division of powers between the states and the national
government.
"... [T]he federal legislature will not only be restrained by its dependence on the people, as other
legislative bodies are, but that it will be, moreover, watched and controlled by the several collateral legislatures,
which other legislative bodies are not." --James Madison, The Federalist 52:14
"These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States...." --Declaration of
Independence, 1776
"The people of this commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free,
sovereign and independent State, and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction,
and right which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in
Congress assembled." --Article IV, Massachusetts Constitution of 1780
"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right,
which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States." --Article II, Articles of
Confederation
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." --Tenth Amendment, U. S. Constitution
"The State governments, by their original Constitutions, are invested with complete sovereignty." --James
Madison, The Federalist 31:14
"Each state, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others,
and only to be bound by its own voluntary act." --James Madison, The Federalist 39: 13
"The proposed government cannot be deemed a national one; since its jurisdiction extends to certain
enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuary and inviolate sovereignty over all other
objects." James Madison, The Federalist, 39:16
"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.
Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised
principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of
taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the
objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs; concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people and the
internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State." --James Madison, The Federalist 45:12
"It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system that the State governments will, in all
possible contingencies, afford complete security against invasion of the public liberty by the national authority."
--Alexander Hamilton, Quoted in David Stedman, Our Ageless Constitution, p. 82
"Each state in the Union shall respectively retain every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this
Constitution delegated to the Congress of the United States, or to the departments of the general government;
nor shall the said Congress, nor any department of the said government, exercise any act of authority over any
individual in any of the said states, but such as can be justified under some power particularly given in this
Constitution; but the said Constitution shall be considered at all times a solemn instrument, defining the extent
of their authority, and the limits of which they cannot rightfully in any instance exceed." --James Iradall, North
Carolina Ratifying Convention, Elliot's Debates 4: 248
"I consider this a declaration, not that the united colonies jointly, in a collective capacity, were
independent states, & c. but that each of them was a sovereign and independent state, that is, that each of them
had a right to govern itself by its own authority and its laws, without any control from any other power upon
earth." --Justice Samuel Chase, 3 U. S. (3 Dall.) 199, 244 (1796)
"... We may safely rely on the disposition of the State legislatures to erect barriers against the
encroachments of the national authority." --Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist 85: 15
The Williamsburg Resolve – Statement on Federalism
"We gather at an historic moment at an historic place.
"Here and in other colonial capitals, the nation's founders first debated the idea of independence and the
fundamental principles of freedom. Then, the challenge to the liberties of the people came from an arrogant,
overbearing monarchy across the sea.
"Today, that challenge comes from our own Federal government--a government that has defied, and that
now ignores, virtually every constitutional limit fashioned by the framers to confine its reach and thus to guard
the freedoms of the people.
"In our day, the threat to self-determination posed by the centralization of power in the nation's capital
has been dramatically demonstrated. The effects of intrusive Federal government authority have been felt so
widely and so profoundly that a united chorus of opposition has risen from town halls and State capitols, from
community organizations and private associations, from enterprises and individuals, across America.
"The founders of our Republic and the framers of our Constitution well understood the ultimate
incompatibility of centralized power and republican ideals. They did not pledge their lives, fortune and sacred
honor to achieve independence from an oppressive monarchy in England only to surrender their liberties to an
all-powerful central government on these shores. Rather, they devoted their considerable energies and insights
to erecting an array of checks and balances that promised to prevent the emergence of an unresponsive and
unaccountable national government.
"Chief among these checks were to be the State governments, whose co-equal role was expressly
acknowledged in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, and whose sweeping jurisdiction and popular
support were presumed sufficient to resist Federal encroachment. The Federal government, by contrast, was
given certain expressly enumerated powers and denied all others. From this balanced federal-state relationship,
predicated on dual sovereignty, there was to come a healthy tension that would serve as a bulwark against any
concentration of power that threatened the freedoms of the people.
"Two centuries later, it is clear that these checks and balances have been dangerously undermined. The
States have witnessed the steady erosion--sometimes gradual, sometimes accelerated--of their sphere of
responsibility. Today, there is virtually no area of public responsibility or private activity in which Federal
authorities do not assert the power to override the will of the people in the States through Federal rules, rulings,
and enactments.
"Our freedoms are no longer safe when they exist only at the sufferance of Federal legislators, Federal
Courts, and Federal bureaucrats...." --Republican Governors Conference, 1994, Williamsburg, Virginia
The Constitution Is a Structure of Consummate Skill
The structure has been erected by architects of consummate skill and fidelity; its foundations are solid;
its components are beautiful, as well as useful; its arrangements are full of wisdom and order, and its defenses
are impregnable from without. It has been reared for immortality, if the work of man may justly aspire to such
a title. It may, nevertheless, perish in an hour by the folly, or corruption, or negligence of its only Keepers, The
People." --Justice Joseph Story
A Plan to Decide the Fate of Republican Government
"As it was more probable we were now [in the Constitutional Convention of 1787] digesting a plan which
in its operation would decide forever the fate of Republican Government, we ought not only to provide every
guard to liberty that its preservation could require, but be equally careful to supply the defects which our own
experience had particularly pointed out." --James Madison
The Founding Fathers Were Committed to Establishing a Free Government in America
"Whatever may be the judgment pronounced on the competency of the architects of the Constitution, or
whatever may be the destiny of the edifice prepared by them, I feel it is a duty to express my profound and
solemn conviction, derived from my intimate opportunity of observing and appreciating the views of the
Convention, collectively and individually, that there never was an assembly of men more pure in their motives,
or more exclusively or anxiously devoted to the object committed to them, than were the members of the Federal
Convention of 1787, to the object of devising and proposing a constitutional system which should best supply
the defects of that which it was to replace, and best secure the permanent liberty and happiness of their country."
--James Madison
A Galaxy of Leaders Unmatched in American History
"The situation is too familiar to rehearse. In the last quarter of the century the new United States--a nation
with a white population of less than three million, with a single major city, and wholly lacking in those
institutions of organized society or civilization so familiar in Europe--boasted a galaxy of leaders who were
literally incomparable: Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Jay,
James Wilson, George Mason, Benjamin Rush, James Madison, and a dozen others scarcely less
distinguished....This remarkable outpouring of political leadership, this fertility in the production of statesmen
[has been] unmatched since that day.... The eighteenth century ... vouchsafed us the most distinguished leadership
that any has enjoyed in modern times." --Henry Steele Commanager
An Explosion of Political Genius in Early America
"In retrospect, Americans now see the year 1787 as an explosion of political genius. One scholar has
called it 'a classic perhaps even unparalleled example of the power of political leadership by intellectuals in a
situation, where their understanding of human nature was firm and realistic, their grasp of earlier thinking broad
and acute, their capacity to learn from their own and others' experiences discriminating,' and the time ripe for
resolution of 'the problem of curbing power and protecting people's liberties.'
"'If all the delegates named for this Convention [of 1787] at Philadelphia are present,' commented the
French charge d' affairs, 'we will never have seen, even in Europe, an assembly more respectable for the talents,
knowledge, disinterestedness, and patriotism of those who compose it.' On the whole these men were not
neophytes as the political leaders. Three had been in the Stamp Act Congress, seven in the First Continental
Congress. Eight had signed the Declaration of Independence, and two the Articles [of Confederation]. Two
would become President, one Vice President, and two Chief Justices of the Supreme Court. Sixteen had been
or would later hold state governorships. Forty-two at one time or another had sat in one or another of the
Continental Congresses, while at least thirty were Revolutionary War veterans. Many had served their states
with distinction, drafting constitutions and codifying their laws." --Richard B. Morris
The Greatest Assemblage of Men in the History of World
For solidity of reason, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion under a combination of difficult
circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the General Congress at Philadelphia. The
histories of Greece and Rome give us nothing equal to it..." --Prime Minister William Pitt
Appreciation and Reverence for the U. S. Constitution
"The Constitution is unquestionably, the wisest ever presented to men." --Thomas Jefferson
"If [the Constitution is] not the greatest exertion of human understanding, [it is] the greatest single effort
of national deliberation that the world has ever seen." --John Adams
"The real wonder is that so many difficulties should have been surmounted , and surmounted with a
unanimity almost as unprecedented as it must have been unexpected. It is impossible to any man of pious
reflection not to perceive in it [Federal Convention of 1787 which formed the U. S. Constitution] a finger of that
Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the
revolution." --James Madison, The Federalist 37: 16
"I cannot but impute it to a signal intervention of divine providence, that a convention of States differing
in circumstances, interests, and manners, should be so harmonious in adopting one grand system." --William
Samuel Johnson, Connecticut Delegate to Federal Convention of 1787
"For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which without the finger of God, never could have been
suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interest." --Alexander Hamilton
"When the great work was done and published, I was struck with amazement. Nothing less than the
super-intending Hand of Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war ... could have brought it
about so complete, upon the whole." --Charles Pinckney
"No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men,
more that 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." --President George
Washington
"As to my sentiments with respect to the merits of the new Constitution, I will disclose them without
reserve.... It appears to me ... little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States (which
States you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances and prejudices) should unite
in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well founded objections." --George Washington
"To conclude, I beg I may not be understood to infer, that our general Convention was divinely inspired
when it form'd the new federal Constitution, merely because that Constitution has been unreasonably and
vehemently opposed; yet I must own I have so much Faith in the general Government of the World by
PROVIDENCE, that I can hardly conceive a Transaction of such momentous Importance to the Welfare of
Millions now existing and to exist in the Posterity of a great Nation, should be suffered to pass without being in
some degree influenc'd, guided and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent & beneficent Ruler, in whom all
inferior Spirits live & move and have their Being." --Benjamin Franklin
"The hand of Divine Providence was never more plainly visible in the affairs of men that in the framing
and adopting of the Constitution." --Andrew Johnson
"Miracles do not cluster. Hold on to the Constitution of the United States of America and the republic
for which it stands. What happened once in six thousand years may never happen again. Hold on to your
Constitution, for if the American Constitution shall fail there will be anarchy throughout the world." --Daniel
Webster
Miracle at Philadelphia
"It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States (which
States you know are also different from each other), in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices, should unite
in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well founded objectives."--George Washington,
1787, Letter to Lafayette.
The Constitution Was Dictated by Heaven Itself
". . . This ideal also I should think would fire your soul, to exert every nerve to adopt a Constitution,
which if every circumstance is taken into view, appears to be dictated by Heaven itself."--Joseph Barrell to
Nathaniel Barrell. Boston. December 20, 1787
The New Constitution Was an Act of Divine Providence
"I cannot but impute it to a signal intervention of divine Providence, that a convention of states differing
in circumstances, interests, and manners should be so harmonious in adopting one grand system." --William
Samuel Johnson, Convention Delegate, First President of Columbia University.
Providence Has Done so Much for America
"You see I am not less enthusiastic that ever I have been, if a belief that peculiar scenes of felicity are
reserved for this country, is to be denominated enthusiasm. Indeed, I do not believe, that Providence has done
so much for nothing. It has always been my creed that we should not be left as an awful monument to prove, 'that
mankind, under the most favourable circumstances for civil liberty and happiness, are unequal to the task of
Governing themselves, and therefore made for a Master.'"--George Washington, June 19, 1788. Letter to
LaFayette.
The Finger of God Led to the Drafting and Adoption of the U. S. Constitution
Your friend Colo. Humphreys informs me, from the wonderful revolution of sentiment in favor of federal
measures, and the marvelous change for the better in the elections of your state, that he shall begin to suspect that
miracles have not ceased; indeed, for myself, since so much liberality has been displayed in the construction and
adoption of the proposed General Government, I am almost disposed to be of the same opinion. Or at least we
may, with a kind of grateful and pious exultation, trace the finger of Providence through those dark and
mysterious events, which first induced the states to appoint a general convention and then led them one after
another by such steps as were best calculated to effect the object) into an adoption of the system recommended
by that general Convention; thereby in all human probability, laying a lasting foundation for tranquility and
happiness; when we had but too much reason to fear that confusion and misery were coming rapidly upon us.
That the same good Providence may still continue to protect us and prevent us from dashing the cup of national
felicity just as it has been lifted to our lips, is the earnest prayer of, my dear sir, your faithful friend. etc."--George
Washington. July 20, 1788. Letter to Jonathan Trumbull.
Divine Blessings Bestowed Upon America Throughout Its History
"It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty
Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can
supply every human defect.... No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which
conducts the affairs of men more than those 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....We ought to be no less persuaded that 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, April 30, 1789.
The Republican Form of Government
"The Republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the
rights of mankind, my prayers and efforts shall be cordially distributed to the support of that we have so deeply
established. It is indeed an animating thought, that while we are securing the rights of ourselves and our
posterity, we are pointing out the way to struggling nations, who wish like us to emerge from their tyrannies too.
Heaven help their struggles, and lead them, as it has done us, triumphantly through them." --Thomas Jefferson
"The free system of government we have established is so congenial with reason, with common sense,
and with a universal feeling, that it must produce approbation and a desire of imitation, as avenues may be found
for truth to the knowledge of nations. Our Country, if it does justice to itself, will be the workshop of liberty to
the Civilized World, and do more than any other for the uncivilized." --James Madison
The Unique Stature of the Founding Fathers
"It has often been asked how it was that within a short span of time on the east coast of the North
American continent there should have sprung up such a rare array of genius--men who seemed in virtual
command of historical experience and who combined moral imagination with a flair for leadership."--Norman
Cousins
"Surely the appearance at the birth of the nation of a constellation of statesmen of first-rate abilities
prompts the query as to why such a cluster of leadership talents has never appeared again in the American
skies."–Richard B. Morris
"Yet who can doubt that in the last quarter of the eighteenth century it was the New World ... that
provided the most impressive spectacle of leadership, rather than the nations of the Old World? Who can doubt,
for example in the crisis of 1774-1783, the American colonies and states enjoyed far more competent leadership
than the British Empire?
"The situation is too familiar to rehearse. In the last quarter of the century the new United States--a nation
with a white population of less than three million, with a single major city, and wholly lacking in the institutions
of organized society or civilization so familiar in Europe--boasted a galaxy of leaders who were quite literally
incomparable: Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Jay, James
Wilson, George Mason, Benjamin Rush, James Madison, and a dozen others scarcely less distinguished.
"What explains this remarkable outpouring of political leadership, this fertility in the production of
statesmen--a fertility unmatched since that day?"--Henry Steele Commanager
... The principles of the American Revolution are well worth studying, whether by men who enjoy
freedom or men who aspire to it. The Revolution was, after all, one of the longest and surest strides the world
has ever taken toward the grand goal of "liberty for all mankind," and no men of good will, even those men who
define liberty almost exclusively in terms of economic development and national independence, can afford to
be ignorant of the faith that animated Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Dickenson, Wilson, the Lees,
and the Adames. As aspiration, if not as description or prescription, the political thought of the Revolution has
the ring both of eternity and universality."--Clinton Rossiter
"You and I, my dear friend have been sent into life at a time when the greatest lawgivers of antiquity
would have wished to live. How few of the human race have ever enjoyed an opportunity of making an election
of government.... When, before the present epoch, had three million people, full of power, had a fair opportunity
to form and establish the wisest and happiest government that human wisdom can contrive?"--John Adams
"In no age before, and in no other country, did man ever possess an election of the kind of government
under which he would choose to live. The constituent parts of the ancient free governments were thrown together
by accident. The freedom of modern European governments was, for the most part, obtained by concessions or
liberality of monarchs or military leaders. In America, alone, reason and liberty concurred in the formation of
constitutions."--John Adams
The Foundation of the American Republic
"The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but at an
Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period;
the researches of the human mind after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the treasures of
knowledge, acquired by the labours of Philosophers, Sages, and Legislators, through a long succession of years,
are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the establishment of our forms
of government.... At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their
Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own."--George Washington
The Sacred Rights of Mankind
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments and musty records.
They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself, and
can never be erased by mortal power....Upon this law depend the natural rights of man: the Supreme Being gave
existence to man, together with the means of preserving and beautifying that existence. He endowed him with
rational faculties, by the help of which to discern and pursue such things as were consistent with his duty and
interest; and invested him with an inviolate right to personal liberty and personal safety."--Alexander Hamilton
The King of America
"But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth make havoc
of mankind like the Royal--of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a
day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the world
of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy,
that in America THE LAW IS KING.--Thomas Paine
A Noble Zeal for the Sacred Cause of Liberty
"It is an indispensable duty, my brethren, which we owe to God and our country, to rouse up and bestir
ourselves, and, being animated with a noble zeal for the sacred cause of liberty, to defend our lives and fortunes,
even to the shedding of the last drop of blood.... To save our country from the hands of oppressors ought to be
dearer to us even that our own lives, and next [to] the eternal salvation of our own souls, [it] is the thing of
greatest importance,--a duty so sacred that it cannot justly be dispensed with for the sake of our secular
concerns."--Samuel West
Nations Are Rewarded or Punished According to Their General Character
"'Revelation assures us that 'righteousness exalteth a nation.' Communities are dealt with in this world
by the wise and just Ruler of the Universe. He rewards or punishes them according to their general character.
The diminution of public virtue is usually attended with that of public happiness, and the public liberty will not
long survive the total extinction of morals."--Samuel Adams
Ignorance Breeds Tyranny
"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given
them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."--Benjamin Franklin
Liberty Cannot Exist Without Virtue
"Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence than the body can live and move without a
soul."--John Adams
Religion Is the Source of Morals
"Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion,
and the duties of man toward God."--Gouverneur Morris
The Love of God and the Virtues of Christianity
"Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by
impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the
minds of the youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and, in subordination to these great
principles, the love of their country; of instructing them in heart of self-government, without which they never
can act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small; in short, of leading them in the study and
practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system...."--Samuel Adams
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