Us Founding Fathers Quotes - Page 4

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  I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Money, Believe, Army

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• Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own.

  James Madison

  Wisdom, Lying, Men

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

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• It is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws.

  George Washington

  Religious, Men, Law

  George Washington (1855). “Maxims of Washington: Political, Social, Moral, and Religious”, p.372

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• We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.

  George Washington

  Religious, Heart, Men

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1838). “The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private”, p.202

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• It is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth.

  George Mason

  Religious, Father, Justice

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• 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 favors.

  George Washington

  Bible, Thanksgiving, God

  Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

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• My heart trembles when I reflect that God is just

  Thomas Jefferson

  God, Patriotic, Heart

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• Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can exist apart from religious principle.

  George Washington

  Religious, Truth, Freedom

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• Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not.

  James Madison

  Government, Atheism, Liberty

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

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• Militias, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms. [...] To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.

  Richard Henry Lee

  Gun, Men, Strong Arms

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• To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms.

  Richard Henry Lee

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Richard Henry Lee (1978). “Letters from the Federal farmer to the Republican”, Univ of Alabama Pr

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• The great object is that every man be armed.

  Patrick Henry

  Father, Gun, Men

  Patrick Henry (2007). “Patrick Henry in his speeches and writings and in the words of his contemporaries”, Warwick House Publishing

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• The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity.

  John Adams

  Bible, God, Christian

  John Adams, Charles Francis Adams (1851). “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations”, p.421

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• We will not be led like sheep to the slaughter.

  Abba Kovner

  Freedom, Taken, Patriotic

  "Freedom fighters" by Andrew Pulver, www.theguardian.com. February 23, 2001.

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• The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation is ever dangerous.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Faith Religion, Office, Superstitions

  Thomas Jefferson (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin. Reports and opinions while Secretary of State”, p.167

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• In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Inspirational, Life, Birthday

  "Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness".

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• Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor - over each other.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Life, Differences, Office

  Thomas Jefferson, Jean M. Yarbrough (1963). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.128, Hackett Publishing

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• Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect.

  James Madison

  Religious, Atheist, Secular Society

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

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• The number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state.

  James Madison

  Numbers, People, Religion

  James Madison (1819). “The Writings of James Madison: 1808-1819”, p.432

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• The Bible: a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalise mankind.

  Thomas Paine

  Atheist, Faith Religion, Atheism

  Thomas Paine (1861). “The Age of Reason, etc”, p.7

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• I looked around for God's judgments, but saw no signs of them.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Religious, Father, Saws

  Benjamin Franklin (2006). “The Portable Benjamin Franklin”, p.370, Penguin

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• The office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation, is ever more dangerous. Jesus had to work on the perilous confines of reason and religion; and a step to the right or left might place him within the grasp of the priests of the superstition, a bloodthirsty race, as cruel and remorseless as the being whom they represented as the family God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and the local God of Israel. That Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God, physically speaking, I have been convinced by the writings of men more learned than myself in that lore.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Jesus, Mean, Writing

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• In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.

  Samuel Adams

  Mind, Atheism, Age

  John White, Cecil Calvert Baltimore (2d Baron), Charles Hudson, Harriet Jane Hanson Robinson, Massachusetts Historical Society (1904). “The planting of colonies in New England”

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• Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Christian, Religious, Jesus

  "Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson". Book by Thomas Jefferson, 1821.

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• The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Religious, Faith Religion, Blood

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.39, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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