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"It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority."  — Lord Acton, History of Freedom in Antiquity, an address delivered to the members of the Bridgnorth Institute, Feb. 26, 1877 (see The Acton Institute)

"Liberty is not the means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a good public administration that it is required, but for the security in the pursuit of the highest objects of civil society, and of private life." — Lord Acton, History of Freedom in Antiquity, an address delivered to the members of the Bridgnorth Institute, Feb. 26, 1877 (see The Acton Institute)

"It is not only his [the juror’s] right, but his duty... to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court." — John Adams, Yale Law Journal 74 (1964):173

"It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.  You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is worth more than all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." — John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 146-147)

"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 Laws, 1765 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 171)

"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses. " — John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (1787-1788)

"We ought to consider what is the end of government before we determine which is the best form. 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.... All sober inquirers of truth, ancient and modern, pagan and Christian, have declared that the happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue." — John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 208)

"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, letter to Abigail Adams, May 1770 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 182)

"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, circa 1780 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 183)

"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," December 4, 1770 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 204)

"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."— John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 192)

"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 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 196)

"We should be unfaithful to ourselves is we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections." — John Adams, Inaugural Address, March 4, 1797 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 182)

"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of it! — John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, April 26, 1777

"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

"It is not only his [the juror’s] right, but his duty... to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court." — John Adams, 1771 (Yale Law Journal, 1964:173.)

"Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to liberty, and few nations, if any, have found it." — John Adams, The Federalist Chronicle, 30 January 2002, Federalist Edition #02-05

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." — John Adams, "Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials," December 1770

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all His laws. Our passions, ambitions, avarice, love, and resentment, etc. possess so much metaphysical subtlety and so much overpowering eloquence that they insinuate themselves into the understanding and the conscience and convert both to their party." — John Adams, writing to Thomas Jefferson, cited in Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History (New York, 1952), p.21.

"Let justice be done though the heavens should fall." — John Adams, letter to Elbridge Gerry, December 5, 1777 (see The Founder's Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 167)

"Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. They will only exchange Tyrants and tyrannies." — attributed to John Adams, June 21, 1776

"...Now, should the melancholy case arise that the judges should give their opinions to the jury against one of these fundamental principles, is a juror obliged to give his verdict generally, according to this direction, or even to find the fact specially, and submit the law to the court? Every man, of any feeling or conscience, will answer, no. It is not only his right, but his duty,...to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court...." — John Adams, Diary for February 12, 1771

"We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient." — Samuel Adams, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 30 June 2000, Federalist #00-26/27.dgst

"Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty." — Samuel Adams, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 21 September 2001, Federalist Edition #01-38

"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 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 207)

"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, ‘What should be the reward of such sacrifices?’ Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!" — Samuel Adams, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 12 September 2001, Federalist Edition #01-37

"We are, heart and soul, friends to the freedom of the press.... It is a precious pest, and a necessary mischief, and there would be no liberty without it." — Fisher Ames, Review of the Pamphlet on the State of the British Constitution, 1807 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 187)

"You can usually tell how tyrannical a person’s heart is by how fast they move to legislate." — Anonymous

"Hope has two lovely daughters, Anger and Courage; Anger at the way things are and the courage to change them." — St. Augustine, quoted in Revolution at the Roots, p. 8

"Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you yourself shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God." — Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), quoted in The Federalist Digest, 14 November 2000, Federalist #00-46.brf

"I am free to acknowledge that his powers are full great, and greater than I was disposed to make them. Nor, entre nous, do I believe they would have been so great had not many of the members cast their eyes towards General Washington as President; and shaped their Ideas of the Powers to be given to a President, by their opinions of his Virtue." — Pierce Butler (Constitutional Convention delegate from South Carolina), letter to Weedon Butler, May 5, 1788 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 186)

"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." — Charles Carroll, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Brief, 14 January 2002, Federalist Edition #02-03

"For no phase of life, whether public or private, whether in business or in the home, whether one is working on what concerns oneself alone or dealing with another, can be without its moral duty; on the discharge of such duties depends all that is morally right, and on their neglect all that is morally wrong in life... But there are some schools that distort all notions of duty by the theories they propose touching the supreme good and the supreme evil. For he who posits the supreme good as having no connection with virtue and measures it not by a moral standard but by his own interests -- if he should be consistent and not rather at times over-ruled by his better nature, he could value neither friendship nor justice nor generosity; and brave he surely cannot possibly be that counts pain the supreme evil, nor temperate he that holds pleasure to be the supreme good." — Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oficiis (On Duties), as quoted from Marcus Tullius Cicero, translated by Walter Miller, Loeb edn., Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1913, pp. 4-5

"First of all, Nature has endowed every species of living creature with the instinct of self-preservation, of avoiding what seems likely to cause injury to life or limb, and of procuring and providing everything needful for life — food, shelter, and the like. A common property of all creatures is also the reproductive instinct (the purpose of which is the propagation of the species) and also a certain amount of concern for their offspring. But the most marked difference between man and beast is this: the beast, just as far as it is moved by the senses and with very little perception of past or future, adapts itself to that alone which is present at the moment; while man — because he is endowed with reason, by which he comprehends the chain of consequences, perceives the causes of things, understands the relation of cause to effect and of effect to cause, draws analogies, and connects and associates the present and the future — easily surveys the course of his whole life and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct strangely tender love for his offspring. She also prompts men to meet in companies, to form public assemblies and to take part in them themselves; and she further dictates, as a consequence of this, the effort on man's part to provide a store of things that minister to his comforts and wants — and not for himself alone, but for his wife and children and the others whom he holds dear and for whom he ought to provide; and this responsibility also stimulates his courage and makes it stronger for the active duties of life. Above all, the search after truth and its eager pursuit are peculiar to man. And so, when we have leisure from the demands of business cares, we are eager to see, to hear, to learn something new, and we esteem a desire to know the secrets or wonders of creation as indispensable to a happy life. Thus we come to understand that what is true, simple, and genuine appeals most strongly to a man's nature. To this passion for discovering truth there is added a hungering, as it were, for independence, so that a mind well-moulded by Nature is unwilling to be subject to anybody save one who gives rules of conduct or is a teacher of truth or who, for the general good, rules according to justice and law. From this attitude come greatness of soul and a sense of superiority to worldly conditions.

"And it is no mean manifestation of Nature and Reason that man is the only animal that has a feeling for order, for propriety, for moderation in word and deed. And so no other animal has a sense of beauty, loveliness, harmony in the visible world; and Nature and Reason, extending the analogy of this from the world of sense to the world of spirit, find that beauty, consistency, order are far more to be maintained in thought and deed, and the same Nature and Reason are careful to do nothing in an improper or unmanly fashion, and in every thought and deed to do or think nothing capriciously. It is from these elements that is forged and fashioned that moral goodness which is the subject of this inquiry — something that, even though it be not generally ennobled, is still worthy of all honour; and by its own nature, we correctly maintain, it merits praise even though it be praised by none." — Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oficiis (On Duties), as quoted from Marcus Tullius Cicero, translated by Walter Miller, Loeb edn., Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1913, pp. 11-14

"Now, of the four divisions which we have made of the essential idea of moral goodness, the first, consisting in the knowledge of truth, touches human nature most closely. For we are all attracted and drawn to a zeal for learning and knowing; and we think it glorious to excel therein, while we count it base and immoral to fall into error, to wander from the truth, to be ignorant, to be led astray. In this pursuit, which is both natural and morally right, two errors are to be avoided: first, we must not treat the unknown as known and too readily accept it; and he who wishes to avoid this error (as all should do) will devote both time and attention to the weighing of evidence. The other error is that some people devote too much industry and too deep study to matters that are obscure and difficult and useless as well. If these errors are successfully avoided, all the labour and pains expended upon problems that are morally right and worth the solving will be fully rewarded... Such a worker in the field of astronomy, for example, was Gaius Sulpicius, of whom we have heard; in mathematics, Sextus Pompey, whom I have known personally; in dialectics, many; in civil law, still more. All these professions are occupied with the search after truth; but to be drawn by study away from active life is contrary to moral duty. For the whole glory of virtue is in activity; activity, however, may often be interrupted, and many opportunities for returning to study are opened. Besides, the working of the mind, which is never at rest, can keep us busy in the pursuit of knowledge even without conscious effort on our part. Moreover, all our thought and mental activity will be devoted either to planning for things that are morally right and that conduce to a good and happy life, or to the pursuits of science and learning. With this we close the discussion of the first source of duty." — Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oficiis (On Duties), as quoted from Marcus Tullius Cicero, translated by Walter Miller, Loeb edn., Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1913, pp. 18-19

"We are reduced to the alternative of choosing unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. 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." — John Dickinson, in the Continental Congress's Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms in 1775, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 07 November 2000, Federalist #00-45.brf

"I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation's destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost." — Frederick Douglas, The Federalist Brief, 27 August 2001, Federalist Edition #01-35

"The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle... If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." — Frederick Douglas, August 4, 1857

"Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world. Justly understood it is sacred next to those which we appropriate in divine adoration; but in the mouths of some it means anything." — Oliver Ellsworth, A Landholder No. III, November 19, 1787 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 173)

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." — attributed to Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 (see The Founder's Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 147)

"I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this Truth, that God governs in the Affairs of Men.  And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?" — Benjamin Franklin, motion for Prayers in the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787 (see The Founder's Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 142)

"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 (see The Founder's Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 161)

"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 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 171)

"A lady asked Dr. Franklin, ‘Well, Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy?’ — ‘A republic,’ replied the Doctor, ‘if you can keep it.’" as told by James McHenry, Constitutional Convention delegate, anecdote from Farrand’s Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 194)

"Whilst the last members were signing it Doctr. Franklin looking towards the Presidents Chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that Painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun.  'I have,' said he, 'often and often in the course of the Session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun.'" — Benjamin Franklin, as told by James Madison, Farrand's Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, September 17, 1787 (see The Founder's Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 142)

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." — Benjamin Franklin, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 03 August 2001, Federalist Edition #01-31

"Do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? ... if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it'." — Benjamin Franklin, quoted in The Federalist Chronicle, 01 August 2001, Federalist Edition #01-31

"The law… dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this." — Alexander Hamilton, quoted in The Federalist Chronicle, 05 September 2001, Federalist Edition #01-36

"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all forms of positive government." — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28

"Here, sir, the people govern." — Alexander Hamilton, speech at the New York Ratifying Convention, June 17, 1778 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 178)

"The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority." — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 22 December 14, 1787 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 178)

"Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants." — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1, October 27, 1797 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 205)

"A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired." — Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, February 23, 1775 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 184)

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power." — Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, February 23, 1775 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 195)

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 46

"There! His Majesty can now read my name without glasses. And he can double the reward on my head!" — attributed to John Hancock, upon signing the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 (see The Founder's Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 147)

"Millions for defense, but not once cent for tribute." — Representative Robert Goodloe Harper, Address, June 18, 1798, he served as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 174)

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?" — Patrick Henry, J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions, 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined." — Patrick Henry, from J. Elliot's, "Debates in the Several State Conventions", 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836.  Also quoted in The Federalist Chronicle, 25 July 2001, Federalist #01-30

"Should I keep back my opinions through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country and an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings." — Patrick Henry, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 13 March 2001, Federalist #01-11.brf

"A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom." — Patrick Henry, quoted in The Federalist Digest, Federalist #00-32.dgst, 11 August 2000

"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Rush, October 20, 1820 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 171)

"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, A Summary View of the Rights of British America, August 1774 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 172)

"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." — Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms, July 6, 1775 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 172)

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of men." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 205)

"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the spot of every wind. With such persons, gullability, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Smith, December 8, 1822

"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, March 11, 1790 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 194)

"Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with government or himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question." — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 194)

"Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 187)

"No government ought to be without censors: & where the press is free, no one ever will." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Washington, September 9, 1792 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 187)

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories." — Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV, 1781 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 178)

"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 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 180)

"I leave to others the sublime delights of riding in the storm, better pleased with sound sleep & a warmer berth below it encircled, with the society of neighbors, friends & fellow laborers of the earth rather than with spies & sycophants... I have no ambition to govern men. It is a painful and thankless office." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, December 28, 1796 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 180)

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens... There has never been a moment of my life in which I should have relinquished for it the enjoyments of my family, my farm, my friends & books." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Melish, January 13, 1813 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 181)

"All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression." — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 196)

"All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride legitimately, by the grace of God." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Roger C. Weightman, June 24, 1826 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 196)

"I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Paine, 1789

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Charles Jarvis, September 28, 1820 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 180)

"The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is ingulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.... It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression ... that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary; ...working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped.... The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our Constitution from a coordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone." — Thomas Jefferson, The Federalist Brief, 13 May 2002, Federalist No. 02-20

I never submitted the whole system of my opinion to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all. — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson in 1789

"May it [the Declaration of Independence] be to the world what I believe will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing man to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition has persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings of security and self-government." — Thomas Jefferson, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 30 June 2000, Federalist #00-26/27.dgst

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty." — Thomas Jefferson, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 5 December 2001, Federalist Edition #01-49

"The clergy… believe that any portion of power confided to me [as President] will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion." — Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 1800. ME 10:173

"What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?" — Thomas Jefferson, quoted in The Federalist Brief, 7 January 2002, Federalist Edition #02-02

"Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state." — Thomas Jefferson, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 10 November 2000, Federalist #00-45.dgst

"An elected despotism is not the government we fought for." — Thomas Jefferson, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 15 September 2000, Federalist #00-37.dgst

"The first object of my heart is my own country. In that is embarked my family, my fortune, and my own existence." — Thomas Jefferson, The Federalist Chronicle, The Conservative e-Journal of Record , 29 August 2001, Federalist Edition #01-35

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." — Thomas Jefferson, quoted in The Federalist Digest, 17 November 2000, Federalist No. 00-46.dgst

"I have not yet begun to fight!" — Captain John Paul Jones, response to the enemies' demand to surrender, September 23, 1779, (see The Founder's Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 144)

"There is no maxim in my opinion which is more liable to be misapplied, and which therefore needs elucidation than the current one that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong.... In fact it is only reestablishing under another name a more specious form, force as the measure of right...." — James Madison, letter to James Monroe, October 5, 1786  (see The Founders Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 177)

"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort.... This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." — James Madison, quoted in The Federalist Chronicle, 15 August 2001, Federalist Edition #01-33

"In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example... of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the most consoling presage of its happiness." — James Madison, essay in The National Gazette, January 18, 1792 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 173)

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." — James Madison, Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 198)

"A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions." — James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 6, 1788 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 198)

"Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks—no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them." — James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 208)

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others." — James Madison, Federalist No. 58, February 20, 1788 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 198)

"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." — James Madison, Federalist No. 10, November 23, 1787 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 180)

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." — James Madison, speech at the Constitutional Convention, July 11, 1787 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 184)

"It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute." — James Madison, letter to the Dey of Algiers, August 1816 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 209)

"The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse." — James Madison, speech at the Virginia Constitutional Convention, December 2, 1829 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 185)

"Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions." — James Madison, essay in the National Gazette, March 27, 1792 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 185)

"The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon... has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right." — James Madison, Virginia Resolutions, December 21, 1798 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 187)

"A universal peace, it is to be feared, is in the catalogue of events, which will never exist but in the imaginations of visionary philosophers, or in the breasts of benevolent enthusiasts." — James Madison, essay in The National Gazette, February 2, 1792 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 175)

"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own." — James Madison, Essay on Property, March 29, 1792 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 188)

"Conscience is the most sacred of all property." — James Madison, Essay on Property, March 29, 1792 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 192)

"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect." — James Madison, letter to William Bradford, April 1, 1774 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 192)

"In a word, as a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights." — James Madison, Essay on Property, March 29, 1792 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 195)

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society." — James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, circa June 20, 1785 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 193)

"Conscience is the most sacred of all property." — James Madison, The Federalist Chronicle, 06 March 2002, Federalist Edition #02-10

"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution... What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not. — James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, 1785

"With respect to the words general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers (enumerated in the Constitution) connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators." — James Madison, quoted in The Federalist Brief, 20 August 2001, Federalist Edition #01-34

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations… This danger ought to be wisely guarded against." — James Madison, Project On Winning Economic Reform

"The nation which reposes on the pillow of political confidence, will sooner or later end its political existence in a deadly lethargy." — James Madison, quoted in The Federalist Digest, #00-43.dgst, 27 Oct 2000

"Of all the enemies to liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people...." — James Madison, The Most Dreaded Enemy of Liberty

"A delegation of such powers [to the president] would have struck, not only at the fabric of our Constitution, but at the foundation of all well organized and well checked governments. The separation of the power of declaring war from that of conducting it, is wisely contrived to exclude the danger of its being declared for the sake of its being conducted." — James Madison, Letters and Other Writings of James Madison

"Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens." — George Mason, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 17, 1788 (see The Founders’ Almanac, by Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation, 2002, p. 180)