Free Government Quotes - Page 3

• A distinction of property results from that very protection which a free Government gives to unequal faculties of acquiring it.

  James Madison

  Government, Giving, Protection

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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• If it was wise, manly, and patriotic for us to establish a free government, it is equally wise to attend to the necessary means of its preservation.

  James Monroe

  Wise, Mean, Patriotic

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• Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Military, War, Clouds

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• Religion is the only solid Base of morals and that Morals are the only possible Support of free governments.

  Gouverneur Morris

  Government, Support, Religion

  Gouverneur Morris, (2013). “A Diary of the French Revolution”, p.410, Read Books Ltd

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• The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world.

  George Washington

  Winning, Government, Religion

  United States. President, George Washington, United States (1825). “The speeches, addresses and messages, of the several presidents of the United States, at the openings of Congress and at their respective inaugurations: Also, the Declaration of independence, the Constitution of the United States, and Washington's farewell address to his fellow-citizens”, p.32

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• [F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy . . . the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. [T]herefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.

  Gouverneur Morris

  Believe, Men, People

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• If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. 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

  Gun, Government, People

  George Washington, John Jay, Jared Sparks (1850). “Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States of America”, p.33, New York : J. Wiley

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• It is all the more necessary under a system of free government that the people should be enlightened, that they should be correctly informed, than it is under an absolute government that they should be ignorant. Under a republic the institutions of learning, while bound by the constitution and laws, are in no way subservient to the government.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Education, Government, Law

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• [I]n the next place, to show that unless these departments be so far connected and blended as to give to each a constitutional control over the others, the degree of separation which the maxim requires, as essential to a free government, can never in practice be duly maintained.

  James Madison

  Government, Practice, Giving

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1852). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788”, p.228

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• The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.

  John C. Calhoun

  Trust, Country, Party

  John C. Calhoun “The Works of John C. Calhoun Volume 2”, Jazzybee Verlag

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• Government is not a solution to our problem government is the problem.

  Ronald Reagan

  Freedom, Government, Problem

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• I am for reformation by emigration. The emigration of the mind before the revolution of the state. The soul and mind must be free before one has a right to be a member of a free government.

  Ameen Rihani

  Government, Soul, Mind

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• The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now. They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.

  John Adams

  Government, People, Liberty

  Letter to Zabdiel Adams, "Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 4", memory.loc.gov. June 21, 1776.

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• A free government with an uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men.

  Daniel Webster

  Military, War, Men

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• Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society.

  John Adams

  Government, Religion, Foundation

  John Adams (2015). “The Works of John Adams Vol. 9: Letters and State Papers 1799 - 1811”, p.501, Jazzybee Verlag

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• All governments, the worst on earth, and the most tyrannical on earth, are free governments to that portion of the people who voluntarily support them.

  Lysander Spooner

  Government, People, Support

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• Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?

  John Adams

  Catholic Religion, Government, Anti Religion

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1856). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.398

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• The experience of a century and a half has demonstrated that our system of free government functions best when the maximum degree of information is made available to our people. In fact, free and candid discussion of vexing problems is the bedrock of democracy and it may be our surest safeguard for peace.

  Brien McMahon

  Government, People, Democracy

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• That no free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles; and by the recognition by all citizens that they have duties as well as rights, and that such rights cannot be enjoyed save in a society where law is respected and due process is observed.

  George Mason

  Blessing, Rights, Government

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• If the Irish once find out that there are any circumstances in which they can get free government grants, we shall have a system of mendicancy [begging] such as the world never knew”. After a million had starved to death he stated “The great evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people.

  Charles Trevelyan

  Selfish, Character, Government

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• In vain shall Great Britain confer upon her colonies the free government and liberal principles of legislation, for which she is distinguished, if she do not carry with her the revelations of God.

  John Strachan

  Government, Principles, Revelations

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• Among our neighbors of Central and Southern America, we see the Caucasian mingled with the Indian and the African. They have the forms of free government, because they have copied them. To
  its benefits they have not attained, because that standard of civilization is above their race. Revolution succeeds Revolution, and the country mourns that some petty chief may triumph, and
  through a sixty days' government ape the rulers of the earth.

  Jefferson Davis

  Country, America, Race

  Jefferson Davis' speech, 1858.

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• If any ask me what a free government is, I answer, that, for any practical purpose, it is what the people think so,and that they, and not I, are the natural, lawful, and competent judges of this matter.

  Edmund Burke

  Thinking, Government, Judging

  Edmund Burke (1852). “The Works and Correspondence of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke”, p.321

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• The United States has adventured upon a great and noble experiment . . . of total separation of Church and State. . . . The offices of the Government are open alike to all. No tithes are levied to support an established Hierarchy, nor is the fallible judgment of man set up as the sure and infallible creed of faith. . . . Such is the great experiment which we have tried, and . . . our system of free government would be imperfect without it.

  John Tyler

  Men, Office, Support

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• Who will show me any Constitutional injunction which makes it the duty of the American people to surrender everything valuable in life, and even life, itself, whenever the purposes of an ambitious and mischievous government may require it? ... A free government with an uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men.

  Daniel Webster

  Military, Men, America

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