Us Founding Fathers Quotes

• Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Years, People, Needs

  Letter to the Abbés Chalut and Arnaud, April 17, 1787.

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• Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual… Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.

  John Hancock

  God, Christian, Men

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• I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.

  James Madison

  Freedom, Believe, Power

  Speech at Virginia Convention, 5 June 1788

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  Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

  Thomas Paine

  Motivation, War, 4th Of July

  Common Sense (1776)

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• We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government Welfare, Government Debt, Historical

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.26, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• [L]iberty 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

  Freedom, Father, Blood

  Joseph E. SPRAGUE, John Adams (1826). “An Eulogy on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, etc”, p.36

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• The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity

  John Adams

  Father, Independence, Principles

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1856). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.45

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  But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

  John Adams

  Government, Presidential, Forever

  John Adams (2012). “The Letters of John and Abigail Adams”, p.76, Simon and Schuster

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• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Change, Happiness

  Declaration of Independence (1776).

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• The God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?

  Thomas Jefferson

  Justice Of God, Liberty, Conviction

  Thomas Jefferson (1998). “Thomas Jefferson: His Words and Vision”, p.17, Peter Pauper Press, Inc.

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• If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted . . . . If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.

  Noah Webster

  Happiness, Failure, Men

  Noah Webster (1835). “Instructive and Entertaining Lessons for Youth: With Rules for Reading with Propriety, Illustrated by Examples: Designed for Use in Schools and Families”, p.230

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• The only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government is the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible.

  Benjamin Rush

  Education, Mean, Patriotic

  Benjamin Rush (1806). “Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical ...”, p.112

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  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

  John Adams

  Bible, God, Religious

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1854). “Works: with a life of the author”, p.229

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• The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.

  Benjamin Rush

  Bible, God, Religious

  Benjamin Rush (1806). “Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical ...”, p.8

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• The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Gun, Rights, People

  "The Federalist Papers". Book by Alexander Hamilton, essay No. 69, 1787 - 1788.

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• I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

  Thomas Jefferson

  God, Country, War

  Notes on the State of Virginia, query 18 (1781 - 1785)

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• I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Men, Faith Religion

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

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  The American Crisis, 12 Sept. 1777

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• Beware the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry.

  Thomas Paine

  Government, Hands, Taxation

  "Rights of Man, Part 2". Book by Thomas Paine. "Introduction", en.wikisource.org. 1792.

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  The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

  Thomas Paine

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Thomas Paine (1817). “The Political Works of Thomas Paine: In Two Volumes”

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• We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.

  Samuel Adams

  Bible, God, Patriotic

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• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Happiness, Peace

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.270

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• The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, War, Patriotic

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1786-1787”, p.263, Cosimo, Inc.

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• In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments, ...at the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness.

  John Hancock

  Christian, Taken, Mean

  56 Copy quote

• The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.

  George Washington

  Fate, Army, Conquer

  1776 General orders, 2 Jul. Quoted in J C Fitzpatrick (ed) Writings of George Washington (1932), vol.5.

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