The time is now near at hand which must determine
whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves.
~George Washington 1776

The Deterioration of Government

The deterioration of every government begins with
the decay of the principles on which it was founded
~Charles-Louis de Secondat

• “We lay it down as a fundamental, that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of right; that, without this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded in force, and not in conscience.” ~Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the state of Virginia, 1782
  

• “[I]t is a maxim, founded upon the universal experience of mankind, that no nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its interest; and no prudent statesman or politician will venture to depart from it.” ~George Washington (1778)
  

• “But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.” ~George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
  

• “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” ~James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, 1822
  

• “A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” ~Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774
  

• “The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.” ~Samuel Adams, Essay in the Boston Gazette, 1771
  

• “We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties, and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others.” ~Thomas Jefferson, Second Inaugural Address, 1805
  

• “Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.” ~Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
  

• “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” ~James Madison, Federalist No. 45, 1788
  

• “[T]he States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore … never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market.” ~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge William Johnson, 1823