Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2012 - 11:37 am:

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Samuel Adams, 1775

"The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men."

Reference: Original Intent, Barton (343); original The Writings of Samuel Adams, Cushing, ed., vol. 3 (236-237)

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Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2012 - 06:37 pm:

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To confirm still more your piety and gratitude to Divine Providence, reflect upon the situation which it has given to the elbow. You see (Figures 1 and 2) in animals, who are intended to drink the waters that flow upon the earth, that if they have long legs, they have also a long neck, so that they can get at their drink without kneeling down. But man, who was destined to drink wine, must be able to raise the glass to his mouth. If the elbow had been placed nearer the hand (as in Figure 3), the part in advance would have been too short to bring the glass up to the mouth; and if it had been placed nearer the shoulder, (as in Figure 4) that part would have been so long that it would have carried the wine far beyond the mouth. But by the actual situation, (represented in Figure 5), we are enabled to drink at our ease, the glass going exactly to the mouth. Let us, then, with glass in hand, adore this benevolent wisdom; -- let us adore and drink!
Ben Franklin

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Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 01:01 pm:

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James Madison, 1788 — Federalist No. 57, on Political Leaders:

"The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust."

Reference: Madison, Federalist No. 57.

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Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 07:39 pm:

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Thomas Jefferson, 1820

"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."

Reference: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition, Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., vol. 15 (278)

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Posted on Friday, March 09, 2012 - 01:14 am:

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“Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.”

- Alexander Hamilton

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Posted on Friday, March 09, 2012 - 04:29 am:

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James Monroe, 1788 — speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention

"How prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best-formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their check and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism."

Reference: The Debates of the Several State..., Elliot, vol. 3 (308)

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Posted on Friday, March 09, 2012 - 08:41 pm:

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Joseph Story, 1833 — Commentaries on the Constitution
Category: The Presidency

"There is little need of commentary upon this clause. No man can well doubt the propriety of placing a president of the United States under the most solemn obligations to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution. It is a suitable pledge of his fidelity and responsibility to his country; and creates upon his conscience a deep sense of duty, by an appeal, at once in the presence of God and man, to the most sacred and solemn sanctions, which can operate upon the human mind."

Reference: Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 545.

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Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2012 - 04:18 am:

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Benjamin Franklin, 1766

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

Reference: Vindicating the Founders, West, 135.

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Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2012 - 08:39 pm:

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Thomas Paine, 1776 — The American Crisis, No. 1
Category: Courage

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Reference: Thomas Paine: Collected Writings , Foner ed., Library of America (91)

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Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2012 - 09:10 pm:

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“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” - John Jay

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Posted on Monday, March 12, 2012 - 08:39 am:

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Thomas Jefferson, 1774

"A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate."

Reference: Jefferson: Writings, Peterson ed., Library of America (121)

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Posted on Monday, March 12, 2012 - 04:50 pm:

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Samuel Adams, 1781, on citizenship:

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."

Reference: Original Intent, Barton (344-5); original The Writings of Samuel Adams, Cushing, ed., vol. 4 (256)

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Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - 04:03 am:

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James Madison, 1835

"Whatever may be the judgement 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 a duty to express my profound and solemn conviction ... that there never was an assembly of men, charged with a great and arduous trust, who were more pure in their motives, or more exclusively or anxiously devoted to the object committed to them."

Reference: 1787: The Grand Convention, Rossiter (316) original Madison, Brandt, ed., vol. 4 (515)

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Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - 02:00 pm:

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Thomas Jefferson, 1824

"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves in all cases to which they think themselves competent, or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of the press."

Reference: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., 16:45.

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Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - 06:26 pm:

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Joseph Story, 1833 — Commentaries on the Constitution

"Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence."

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Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 03:55 am:

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Mercy Warren, 1805
Category: Tyranny

"It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled. It must be the combined virtue of the rulers and of the people to do this, and to rescue and save their civil and religious rights from the outstretched arm of tyranny, which may appear under any mode or form of government."

Reference: Our Sacred Honor, Bennett, 376.

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Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 09:01 am:

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"The executive branch of this government never has, nor will suffer, while I preside, any improper conduct of its officers to escape with impunity."

– George Washington, letter to Gouverneur Morris, 1795

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Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 08:14 pm:

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Benjamin Franklin, 1753 — letter to Collinson
Category: Poverty

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

Reference: Vindicating the Founders, West, 145.

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Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 06:17 am:

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Alexander Hamilton, 1788 — speech to the New York Ratifying Convention
Category: Federalism

"The State governments possess inherent advantages, which will ever give them an influence and ascendancy over the National Government, and will for ever preclude the possibility of federal encroachments. That their liberties, indeed, can be subverted by the federal head, is repugnant to every rule of political calculation."

Reference: The Works of Alexander Hamilton, Henry Cabot Lodge, ed., vol.2 (17)

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Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 11:56 am:

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John Marshall, 1799 — official eulogy of George Washington, delivered by Richard Henry Lee
Category: Founders on Founders

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting; correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private charter gave effulgence to his public virtues. Such was the man for whom our nation morns."

Reference: Patriot Sage, Spalding

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Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 05:49 pm:

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Benjamin Rush, 1788 — on the ratification of the Constitution, letter to Boudinot

"'Tis done. We have become a nation."

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Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 10:08 pm:

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Joseph Warren, 1775 — Boston Massacre Oration
Category: Patriotism

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

Reference: Life and Times of Joseph Warren, Frothingham (435)

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