The Founding Fathers on Government, God, Freedom and Tyranny

Truths about America’s founding:

With the 250^th anniversary of American independence being celebrated, people – certainly Americans – should know something about what the Founding Fathers – and others – believed in. These brief quotes show how important things like God, liberty, limited government, morality, character and virtue were to these men.

John Adams

“Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence than the body can live and move without a soul.”

“A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

John Quincy Adams

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

Samuel Adams

“If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation.”

“He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.”

“The diminution of public virtue is usually attended with that of public happiness, and the public liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals.”

“Since private and public Vices, are in Reality, though not always apparently, so nearly connected, of how much Importance, how necessary is it, that the utmost Pains be taken by the Public, to have the Principles of Virtue early inculcated on the Minds even of children, and the moral Sense kept alive, and that the wise institutions of our Ancestors for these great Purposes be encouraged by the Government. For no people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Disobedience to tyrants is Obedience to God.”

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations get corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Alexander Hamilton

“Too much power leads to despotism, too little leads to anarchy.”

“The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid bases of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.”

John Hancock

“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”

“Sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement.”

Patrick Henry

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”

“Give me liberty, or give me death!”

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!”

“Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.”

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly that this great nation was founded – not by religionists – but by Christians… on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

“Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger.”

John Jay

“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.”

“Americans are the first people whom heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing forms of government under which they should live.”

Marquis de Lafayette

“When the government violates the people’s rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensable of duties.”

“Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country.”

Thomas Jefferson

“Most bad government has grown out of too much government.”

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”

“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery. A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”

“When government fears the people, there is liberty. When people fear the government, there is tyranny!”

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”

“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then.”

“The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution.”

James Madison

“It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune. This necessity however exists; and the problem to be solved is, not what form of Government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect.”

“But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? 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. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution … are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”

“[A]ccumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

Jonathan Mayhew

“People are not usually deprived of their liberties all at once, but gradually, by one encroachment after another, as it is found they are disposed to bear them.”

“…no civil rulers are to be obeyed when they enjoin things that are inconsistent with the commands of God…. All commands running counter to the declared will of the Supreme Legislator of heaven and earth are null and void, and therefore disobedience to them is a duty, not a crime.”

“Let us prize our freedom; but not use our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness.”

Thomas Paine

“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.”

“For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever.”

William Penn

“If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants.”

“True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.”

“No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.”

“People are more afraid of the laws of Man than of God, because their punishment seems to be nearest.”

George Washington

“Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.”

“A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.”

“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

“When a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.”

“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty is entrusted to the hands of the American people. If their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.”

“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty GOD and to obey His will.”

Daniel Webster

“Whatever makes men good Christians makes them good citizens.”

“The proper function of a government is to make it easy for the people to do good, and difficult for them to do evil.”

Noah Webster

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate – look to his character.”

“God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.”

“The Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.”

[1955 words]