The great object of my fear is
the federal judiciary.
That body, like gravity, ever acting, with
noiseless foot, and unalarming advance,
gaining ground step by step, and
holding what it gains, is
engulfing insidiously the special governments into the
jaws of that which feeds them.

- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, Mar 9, 1821

"[The purpose of a written constitution is] to
bind up the several branches of government by
certain laws, which, when they transgress, their
acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an
appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on
every infraction of their rights, on the
peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an
intention to surrender those rights."

-- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia Q.XIII, 1782.
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition)
Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 2:178

That's "Good" Eternal Vigilance: aka Thomas H.

read original text...

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan."

Original Passages:

"But let them [members of the parliament of Great Britain] not think to exclude us from going to other markets to dispose of those commodities which they cannot use, or to supply those wants which they cannot supply. Still less let it be proposed that our properties within our own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own. The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." -- "A Summary View of the Rights of British America"

Panel Two:

"Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens . . . are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion . . . No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively."

-- "A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom," Section I

Patrick Henry quotes:  :  

.

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.

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http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quotes_by/patrick+henry

Thank you very much for bringing out the whole quote, Savvy. It's truly powerful.

     Adams, John.

     "Property is surely a right of mankind as real as
     liberty. . . . The moment the idea is admitted into society, that
     property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not
     a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny
     commence.…"

[From The Works of John Adams, "A Defense of the Constitutions of Government in the United States of America," by Charles Francis Adams, Vol. IX, Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, pp. 376-377]

"We have no government armed in power capable of contending with
human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our
Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people.
It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."

John Adams
(1735-1826) Founding Father, 2nd US President
Source: Oct. 11, 1798; Address to the military

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Roger C. Weightman,
June 24, 1826 (in the last letter he penned)

http://www.nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm

"The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy."

--Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations, circa 1774

Tom quoted this from Samuel Adams on a recent conference call ...

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

-- Samuel Adams

"[T]he hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty - that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men."

--George Washington, General Orders, 23 August 1776

"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 April 1816

Madoff was industrious, skillful ... and wrong.

I don't think we want to rely upon ill-gotten gains, in any arena.  The benefit is not worth the cost.

Free makrets ... yes.  Corruption ... no.

There can be no "right" to do wrong.

"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

Does it make a difference whether our tyrants
reside in D.C. or individual state houses so long
as elected officials continue to bamboozle the
American people in pursuit of their own interests
and that of their cohorts?

The people must replace those who abuse power
with those willing to do the will of the people ... and
serve the public interest. 

That's the kind of official I could support.

"History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened."

--Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations

More from the Iowa Plantation; 

"The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have receiv'd them as a fair Inheritance from our worthy Ancestors: They purchas'd them for us with toil and danger and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Of the latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to maintain the rights bequeath'd to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. - Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance. Let us remember that "if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom." It is a very serious consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event." - Essay in the Boston Gazette, October 14, 1771 –“Candidus”-Samuel Adams

"When designs are form'd to raze the very foundation of a free government, whose few who are to erect their grandeur and fortunes upon the general ruin, will employ every art to sooth the devoted people into a state of indolence, inattention and security, which is forever the fore-runner of slavery." - Article signed "Candidus," in Boston Gazette, December 9, 1771

"If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them." - As Candidus in the Boston Gazette, January 20, 1772 – Candidus Iowa Gazette 2009-

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/samuel-adams-quotes-1.html

"It is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand....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, letter to Zabdiel Adams, 21 June 1776

"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

"Men, to act with vigour and effect, must have time to mature measures, and judgment and experience, as to the best method of applying them. They must not be hurried on to their conclusions by the passions, or the fears of the multitude. They must deliberate, as well as resolve."

--Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, January 6, 1833

"The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse."

--James Madison, speech in the Virginia constitutional convention, December 2, 1829

"This Government, the offspring of your own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support."

--George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

"Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country." --George Washington, upon fumbling for his glasses before delivering the Newburgh Address, March 15, 1783

George Washington, Mt. Rushmore by jimbowen0306  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiedfw/445506886/
Terms of Use:  Attribution 2.0 Generic http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

"One single object ... [will merit] the
endless gratitude of the society: that of
restraining the judges from
usurping legislation."

.

--Thomas Jefferson
letter to Edward Livingston
March 25, 1825

Quote of the Day from:  Founder's Quotes

"It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf."

--Thomas Paine

"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty - that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men."

--George Washington, General Orders, August 23, 1776

"It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Hugh P. Taylor, October 4, 1823

“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to
remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”
-- Thomas Jefferson

While not a Founding Father, James A. Garfield had some important things to say that impact our time.

Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress.

If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.

-James A. Garfield

20th President of the United States

"Every child in America should be acquainted with his
own country. He should read books that furnish him with
ideas that will be useful to him in
life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should
rehearse the history of his own country."

--Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788

Sobering quote for the present generation ...

"The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families. ... How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?"

--John Adams, Diary, June 2, 1778

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If `Thou shalt not covet' and `Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."

--John Adams, A Defense of the American Constitutions, 1787

"Work as if you were to live 100 Years, Pray as if you were to die To-morrow."

--Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1757

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

— Samuel Adams

My brother repeats himself.. (post #9844 -- #9 above)

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."

--Benjamin Franklin letter to Benjamin Vaughn, March 14, 1783

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."

--John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765

"The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth."

--Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute."

--Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791

"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency."

--George Washington,
First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789

HT patriotpost.us

"It is an unquestionable truth, that the body of the people in every country desire sincerely its prosperity. But it is equally unquestionable that they do not possess the discernment and stability necessary for systematic government. To deny that they are frequently led into the grossest of errors, by misinformation and passion, would be a flattery which their own good sense must despise."

--Alexander Hamilton, speech to the Ratifying Convention of New York, 1788

From the Patriot Post:

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers."

--John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756

"To cherish and stimulate the activity of the human mind, by multiplying the objects of enterprise, is not among the least considerable of the expedients, by which the wealth of a nation may be promoted."

 - Alexander Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, 1791

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." 
 

-- Thomas Paine, “The Crisis”, December 23rd, 1776

"[T]he present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bona fide must we combat our political foes."

--Alexander Hamilton, letter to James Bayard, 1802

"No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did; and no day was every more clouded than the present! Wisdom, and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm."

--George Washington, letter to James Madison, 1786

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?"

--Benjamin Franklin, to Colleagues at the Constitutional Convention

Do you get the sense Franklin was a bit more confident God governs in the affairs of sparrows, than of men?  " ... if a sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?"  That's interesting.  It seems the scriptures are clear that God governms in the affairs of sparrows and men. 

.

• Matthew 10:29-31 (New King James Version)

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

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• Romans 13:1 (New King James Version)

 ¹ Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

I'm sure Franklin was a very wise person.

Compare the strength of Paul's conviction with Franklin's more convincing proofs I see ... if and probable.  It seems Franklin realized God governs in the affairs of men at some level (head knowledge,) but hadn't quite accepted it.   Franklin's more convincing proofs I see seems to indicate Franklin was in a process of being convinced, but not yet fully so.  Finally, Franklin poses scriptural references to God's sovereignty over both birds of the air and the governments of men in terms of likelihoods and questions.  To me, Franklin's stmt just doesn't seem as persuasive as the Apostle Paul's stmt.

Also, it seems Franklin wasn't quite ready to give all the credit to God ... though he said he knew it was due Him.

Even setting aside the if's and likelihoods as tools of communications, as is suggested, Franklin only credits God with noticing the sparrow that falls, rather than permitting the sparrow to fall ... and with aiding in the rise of an empire, rather than acting as the One Who establishes governments.

I guess if Franklin wanted to determine truth, maybe he would have done well to put more stock in God's revealed Word (the scriptures) ... and less in his (Franklin's) own life experience.  There's no doubt God has the more far reaching and proper perspective.

"The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it."

--James Wilson, Of the Study of Law in the United States, 1790

Hmmm. I guess the reason these are quotable quotes is that they give one cause for pause, as some might say.

I don't think I agree.  I think we are a nation of laws ... not a nation of people who write the law or agency/judicial interpretors.  As such, we should be governed by the words of those laws.  And those words should be sufficiently clear so as to stand (for the most part) on their own -- not leaving gaping wholes through which massive mis-interpretation can be implemented in their application by people we've not elected -- or even by people we have elected.  Our laws ought not be morphed after the fact so as to require extensive agency and legal expertise to ascertain the actual applied meaning of legislation that's been written into law ... but sadly, they are.

I think a priority in writing legislation is to do so in a straight-forward manner that makes clear the intention of the body putting forward the bill ... so as not to leave room for abhorrent mis-interpretations by administrative agencies and judges ... or even "after the bill passed" interpretations imposed by those who wrote the bill, themselves.

When our representatives vote for a bill ... they vote for the words of the bill -- not the thought process of the person putting forward the legislation.  It makes no sense to leave subject to re-interpretation every law by the legislator who wrote it.  To me, that makes no sense at all.

As Americans, I think we should find people who will speak to us plainly ... without duplicity or wiggle-room, and elect them to serve us as public officials.

Really, should Americans have to constantly question what the meaning of "is" is?  Why do we tolerate such non-sense?  Why do we excuse people who blatantly mislead us?

-------------------------

Several months ago, when discussing a zoning issue with the local governing agency, my brother asked the agency rep. to reference the particular code they were implementing in their unfavorable decision.  The reply from the agency was that regular citizens couldn't ascertain the law by reading the code, because citizens wouldn't know how the agency interprets the code.

So I ask ... are we really a nation of laws, anymore?

Maybe that's a goal to move back towards ... and that reformation can start by electing people who will write clear, staight-forward legislation, IMO.

"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."

--Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Convention, 1775

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."

--Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, 1776

"We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions."

--George Washington, General Orders, 1776

"There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come."

--Peter Muhlenberg,  from a Lutheran sermon read at Woodstock, Virginia, 1776

"They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men."

--John Adams, Novanglus No. 7, 1775

"Wise politicians will be cautious about fettering the government with restrictions that cannot be observed, because they know that every break of the fundamental laws, though dictated by necessity, impairs that sacred reverence which ought to be maintained in the breast of rulers towards the constitution of a country." 

--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 25, 1787

This is not a quotation from one of the Founders, but this seems the most appropriate place to post it...hat tip to PatriotPost:

"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. ... Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful good society' which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean 'more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.'" --Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

"[W]here there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community."

--Benjamin Rush, letter to David Ramsay, 1788

"[A]lthough a republican government is slow to move, yet when once in motion, its momentum becomes irresistible."

--Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Francis C. Gray, 1815

"A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking."

--James Madison, letter to William Hunter, 1790

"The republican principle demands that the deliberate sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men, who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests."

--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 71, 1788

"I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one's life, the foundation of happiness or misery."

--George Washington, letter to Burwell Bassett, 1785

With thanks to Bob Ellis from Dakota Voice :

The Constitution says, “Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, &c., provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States”. I suppose the meaning of this clause to be, that Congress may collect taxes for the purpose of providing for the general welfare, in those cases wherein the Constitution empowers them to act for the general welfare. To suppose that it was meant to give them a distinct substantive power, to do any act which might tend to the general welfare, is to render all the enumerations useless, and to make their powers unlimited. – Thomas Jefferson

Our tenet ever was…that Congress had not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but were restrained to those specifically enumerated, and that, as it was never meant that they should provide for that welfare but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not have been meant they should raise money for purposes which the enumeration did not place under their action; consequently, that the specification of powers is a limitation of the purposes for which they may raise money. – Thomas Jefferson

They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please…Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect. – Thomas Jefferson

Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated. – Thomas Jefferson

[Congressional jurisdiction of power] is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any.” – James Madison

If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions. – James Madison

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined . . . to be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce.” – James Madison

With respect to the two words ‘ general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. – James Madison

We must confine ourselves to the powers described in the Constitution, and the moment we pass it, we take an arbitrary stride towards a despotic Government. – James Jackson, First Congress

A wise and frugal government … shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. – Thomas Jefferson

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If `Thou shalt not covet’ and `Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free. – John Adams, A Defense of the American Constitutions 1787

I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. – James Madison

Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. – James Madison

If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress. … Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America. – James Madison

[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights. – Thomas Jefferson

Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. – Thomas Jefferson

I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that is not the guide in expounding it, there may be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense. – James Madison

[T]he Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give place to the Constitution. But this doctrine is not deducible from any circumstance peculiar to the plan of convention, but from the general theory of a limited Constitution. – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 81, 1788

"The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families. ... How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?"

--John Adams, Diary, 1778

"Religion in a Family is at once its brightest Ornament & its best Security."

--Samuel Adams, letter to Thomas Wells, 1780

Thomas Jefferson; -- Found among his papers after death.

“Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God”

"The most important consequence of marriage is, that the husband and the wife become in law only one person... Upon this principle of union, almost all the other legal consequences of marriage depend. This principle, sublime and refined, deserves to be viewed and examined on every side."

--James Wilson, Of the Natural Rights of Individuals, 1792

"[T]he importance of piety and religion; of industry and frugality; of prudence, economy, regularity and an even government; all ... are essential to the well-being of a family."

--Samuel Adams, letter to Thomas Wells, 1780

"As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight."

--Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."

--George Washington, The Rules of Civility, 1748

"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing. And that you may be always doing good, my dear, is the ardent prayer of yours affectionately."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Martha Jefferson, 1787

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."

--Thomas Paine, The Crisis, No. 4, 1777

"This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest of ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties."

--John Jay, Federalist No. 2

"Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence. So shall the life into which you have entered be the portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith, 1825

"[T]he great Searcher of human hearts is my witness, that I have no wish, which aspires beyond the humble and happy lot of living and dying a private citizen on my own farm."

--George Washington, letter to Charles Pettit, 1788

"We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times."

--George Washington, letter to Philip Schuyler, 1777