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Author	Topic: Quotes from the U.S. Founding Fathers...	Post a Reply Back to Topics

kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Sep 30, 2012 10:38:31 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "For example. If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another taz on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens." -- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 April 1816)

kbierley

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Dayton

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Message Posted: Sep 30, 2012 10:38:31 PM

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"For example. If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article.
For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another taz on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens."

-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 April 1816)

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jdhelm Champion Author Iowa Posts:11,790 Points:1,193,915 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Feb 18, 2013 4:50:46 AM Ignore jdhelm Report Abuse “A private central bank issuing the public currency is a greater menace to the liberties of the people than a standing army…We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” ~Thomas Jefferson
jdhelm Champion Author Iowa Posts:11,790 Points:1,193,915 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Feb 18, 2013 4:26:32 AM Ignore jdhelm Report Abuse Well, Lincoln was not a founding father, but his quote deserves a spot here --“We the People are the Rightful Masters of both Congress & the Courts, not to Overthrow the Constitution, but Overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” ~Abraham Lincoln [Edited by: jdhelm at 2/18/2013 4:27:06 AM EST]
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Feb 18, 2013 4:15:26 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence representing Connecticut(he was born in Massachusetts) “I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. That the Scriptures of the old and new testaments are a revelation from God and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.”
jdhelm Champion Author Iowa Posts:11,790 Points:1,193,915 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Jan 31, 2013 6:13:29 AM Ignore jdhelm Report Abuse "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote." -Benjamin Franklin
johnnyg1200 Champion Author St. Louis Posts:4,095 Points:640,320 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Jan 31, 2013 12:13:02 AM Ignore johnnyg1200 Report Abuse In 1796, on the floor of the House of Representatives, William Giles . "I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity.", adding that to approve such spending "would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded." [Edited by: johnnyg1200 at 1/31/2013 12:13:28 AM EST]
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Jan 27, 2013 2:22:01 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "No infamy, iniquity, or cruelty can exceed our own if we, born and educated in a country of freedom, entitled to its blessings and knowing their value, pusillanimously deserting the post assigned us by Divine Providence, surrender succeeding generations to a condition of wretchedness from which no human efforts, in all probability, will be sufficient to extricate them; the experience of all states mournfully demonstrating to us that when arbitrary power has been established over them, even the wisest and bravest nations that ever flourished have, in a few years, degenerated into abject and wretched vassals." --A New Essay by the Pennsylvania Farmer, 1774 John Dickinson, signer of the Articles of Confederation [Edited by: mweyant at 1/27/2013 2:22:59 AM EST]
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Jan 20, 2013 7:11:11 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.” –James Madison
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Jan 6, 2013 2:23:57 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation." --John Marshall
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Jan 6, 2013 2:23:25 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it." --Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 1, 1776)
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Jan 6, 2013 2:20:55 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." --Thomas Jefferson
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Jan 6, 2013 2:20:09 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. ... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants." --Cesare Beccaria, quoted by Thomas Jefferson in Commonplace Book
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Dec 31, 2012 8:15:07 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse James Monroe 5th U.S. President "When we view the blessings with which our country has been favored, those which we now enjoy, and the means which we possess of handing them down unimpaired to our latest posterity, our attention is irresistibly drawn to the source from whence they flow. Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgments for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good." --Monroe made this statement in his 2nd Annual Message to Congress, November 16, 1818.
goldseeker Champion Author West Virginia Posts:19,505 Points:2,713,840 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Dec 26, 2012 3:07:28 AM Ignore goldseeker Report Abuse This current administration could care less about the founding fathers.
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Dec 26, 2012 12:48:34 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation." John Marshall, former Chief Justice, Secretary of State under John Adams, served as a captain in the Continental Army
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Dec 22, 2012 4:34:22 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "But, above all, let us implore the protection of that infinitely good and gracious Being [Proverbs 8:15] "by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice...." John Dickinson, signer of the Constitution from Delaware
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Dec 17, 2012 11:46:06 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths." --George Washington
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Dec 16, 2012 5:56:34 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse Jedidiah Morse--Samuel Morse's dad and the Father of American Geography(textbooks) "To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them." Election Sermon given at Charleston, MA, on April 25, 1799
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Dec 8, 2012 3:07:48 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." Patrick Henry
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Dec 6, 2012 12:46:22 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse Charles Pinckney, signer of the Constitution from South Carolina "Our true situation appears to me to be this--a new extensive Country containing within itself the materials for forming a Government capable of extending to its citizens all the blessings of civil & religious liberty--capable of making them happy at home."
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Dec 1, 2012 8:48:50 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "A wise and frugal government … shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” -Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 [Edited by: mweyant at 12/1/2012 8:50:15 AM EST]
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Nov 30, 2012 4:22:11 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants." Benjamin Franklin
goldseeker Champion Author West Virginia Posts:19,505 Points:2,713,840 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Nov 29, 2012 2:47:04 AM Ignore goldseeker Report Abuse Obamamania is indeed a danger that our country now faces.
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Nov 29, 2012 2:01:03 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse James McHenry, signer of the Constitution from Maryland "Public utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience."
PopcornPirate Champion Author New Jersey Posts:3,904 Points:1,169,700 Joined:Nov 2006	Message Posted: Nov 28, 2012 9:03:52 AM Ignore PopcornPirate Report Abuse ""It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf. "" Thomas Paine
PopcornPirate Champion Author New Jersey Posts:3,904 Points:1,169,700 Joined:Nov 2006	Message Posted: Nov 28, 2012 9:00:41 AM Ignore PopcornPirate Report Abuse ""The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."" Richard Henry Lee
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Nov 27, 2012 11:50:16 PM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "The utopian schemes of leveling [wealth redistribution] and a community of goods, are as visionary and impractical as those which vest all property in the crown. These ideas are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our government, unconstitutional." Samuel Adams
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 26, 2012 12:47:09 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves." --Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre Oration, 1775
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 26, 2012 12:44:12 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "The hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations." --George Washington
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 26, 2012 12:43:56 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "The hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations." --George Washington
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 26, 2012 12:43:52 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "The hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations." --George Washington
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Nov 25, 2012 4:40:04 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse “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.” -James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Nov 24, 2012 11:21:43 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse John Jay, Original Chief-Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts."
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Nov 23, 2012 6:25:23 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse Samuel Adams Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Father of the American Revolution "And as it is our duty to extend our wishes to the happiness of the great family of man, I conceive that we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world that the rod of tyrants may be broken to pieces, and the oppressed made free again; that wars may cease in all the earth, and that the confusions that are and have been among nations may be overruled by promoting and speedily bringing on that holy and happy period when the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all people everywhere willingly bow to the sceptre of Him who is Prince of Peace." --As Governor of Massachusetts, Proclamation of a Day of Fast, March 20, 1797.
mweyant Champion Author Maryland Posts:5,511 Points:979,125 Joined:Feb 2010	Message Posted: Nov 22, 2012 6:55:16 AM Ignore mweyant Report Abuse "It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor." George Washington
AC-302 Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:26,535 Points:2,897,120 Joined:Aug 2004	Message Posted: Nov 21, 2012 11:39:09 AM Ignore AC-302 Report Abuse I believe it was Thomas Payne who said that we ought to have a revolution about every 20 years. It was the only way go keep government honest! (and no, I'm suggesting that ANYONE take up arms or do anything violent against our government nor against our fellow citizens. However, we could revolt by voting all of the bums out and demanding change.)
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 21, 2012 11:28:02 AM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "I do recommend and assign Thursday ... next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be." --George Washington (October 3, 1789)
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 19, 2012 11:45:59 AM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "States, like individuals, who observe their engagements, are respected and trusted: while the reverse is the fate of those who pursue an opposite conduct." --Alexander Hamilton
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 19, 2012 11:42:26 AM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one." --Thomas Paine
PopcornPirate Champion Author New Jersey Posts:3,904 Points:1,169,700 Joined:Nov 2006	Message Posted: Nov 13, 2012 10:18:22 AM Ignore PopcornPirate Report Abuse ""A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species."" James Madison
PopcornPirate Champion Author New Jersey Posts:3,904 Points:1,169,700 Joined:Nov 2006	Message Posted: Nov 13, 2012 10:17:17 AM Ignore PopcornPirate Report Abuse ""The very definition of tyranny is when all powers are gathered under one place."" James Madison
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 12, 2012 11:29:06 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "We must take human nature as we find it, perfection falls not to the share of mortals." --George Washington
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 8, 2012 8:50:13 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas Jefferson (1775)
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 8, 2012 8:47:24 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." --Thomas Paine
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 8, 2012 8:45:19 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "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." --Samuel Adams
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 1, 2012 9:36:45 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." --George Washington
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 1, 2012 9:35:53 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy." --Thomas Jefferson
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 1, 2012 9:35:00 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "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." --Samuel Adams (1781
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Nov 1, 2012 9:34:28 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "All see, and most admire, the glare which hovers round the external trappings of elevated office. To me there is nothing in it, beyond the lustre which may be reflected from its connection with a power of promoting human felicity." --George Washington, letter to Catherine Macaulay Graham, 1790
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Oct 27, 2012 11:44:43 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse A National Security Strategy for a Strong America "Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace." --Thomas Jefferson
kbierley Champion Author Dayton Posts:10,730 Points:1,415,690 Joined:Nov 2003	Message Posted: Oct 27, 2012 11:43:30 PM Ignore kbierley Report Abuse "It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard M. Johnson, 1808