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

• “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 (1775)

• “Nelle Reagan, my mother, God rest her soul, had an unshakable faith in God’s goodness. And while I may not have realized it in my youth, I know now that she planted that faith very deeply in me. She made the most difficult Christian message seem very easy. And, like you, she knew you could never repay one bad deed with another. Her way was forgiveness and goodness, and both began with love . . . Well, thanks to Nelle Reagan, I believe in intercessory prayer. And I know that those prayers are giving me strength that I otherwise would not possess …” ~Ronald Reagan, 1983

• “Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time;
  they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure and which insures 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, wrote to James McHenry, on November 4

• 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 (1788)

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• “I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty.” ~Thomas Jefferson (1785)

• “Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.” ~Benjamin Franklin (1722)

• “In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.” ~Alexander Hamilton
  

• “The defense of one’s self, justly called the primary law of nature, is not, nor can it be abrogated by any regulation of municipal law. This principle of defense is not confined merely to the person; it extends to the liberty and the property of a man … it extends to the person of every one, who is in danger; perhaps, to the liberty of every one, whose liberty is unjustly and forcibly attacked.” ~James Wilson (1791)

• “It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.” ~John Adams (1756)

• “I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty.” ~Thomas Jefferson (1785)