Thomas Paine
“Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.” – Thomas Paine
Filed under Abuse & Misuse of Power, American Exceptionalism, Checks & Balances in Government, Constitution, Democracy, Democratic Republic, Enumerated Powers & Delegated Authority, Federalism, Founding Fathers, Freedom/Liberty, Government Accountability, Individual Responsibility, Limited Government, Representative Government, Republican Government, Rule of Law, Thomas Paine, Tyranny, Will & Consent of the People
Ronald Reagan
We the People…
“We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around… Our government has no power except that granted it by the people…
“Why is the Constitution of the United States so exceptional?
“Well, the difference is so small that it almost escapes you, but it’s so great it tells you the whole story in just three words: We the people. In those other constitutions, the Government tells the people of those countries what they’re allowed to do. In our Constitution, we the people tell the Government what it can do, and it can do only those things listed in that document and no others. Virtually every other revolution in history has just exchanged one set of rulers for another set of rulers. Our revolution is the first to say the people are the masters and government is their servant.” – Ronald Reagan
Filed under American Exceptionalism, Checks & Balances in Government, Conservative Principles, Constitution, Free Elections, Freedom/Liberty, Government Accountability, Individual Responsibility, Limited Government, Representative Government, Republican Government, Ronald Reagan, Rule of Law, Will & Consent of the People
George Washington
“The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled.” ― George Washington Quote, Letter to Bushrod Washington, Fitzpatrick 29:311; 1787
Filed under Abuse & Misuse of Power, Balance of Power, Checks & Balances in Government, Constitution, Democracy, Democratic Republic, Enumerated Powers & Delegated Authority, Founding Fathers, George Washington, Government Accountability, Individual Responsibility, Limited Government, People, Republican Government, Rule of Law, Will & Consent of the People
John Dickinson
“What concerns all, should be considered by all; and individuals may injure a whole society, by not declaring their sentiments. It is therefore not only their right, but their duty, to declare them.” — John Dickinson, Letters of Fabius, 1788
Thomas Jefferson
“[T]he States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore … never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge William Johnson, 1823
Filed under Abuse & Misuse of Power, Balance of Power, Checks & Balances in Government, Democratic Republic, Enumerated Powers & Delegated Authority, Federalism, Founding Fathers, Government Accountability, Individual Responsibility, Limited Government, Republican Government, Thomas Jefferson, Virtue
James Madison
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” — James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, 1822
Alexander Fraser Tytler
“Democratic government opposes more impediments to disinterested patriotism than any other form. To surmount these, a pitch of virtue is necessary which, in other situations, where the obstacles are less great and numerous, is not called in to exertion. The nature of a republican government gives to every member of the state an equal right to cherish views of ambition, and to aspire to the highest offices of the commonwealth; it gives to every individual of the same title with his fellows to aspire at the government of the whole.” — Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (October 15, 1747 –January 5, 1813) was a Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian who served as Professor of Universal History, and Greek and Roman Antiquities, in the University of Edinburgh. Tytler’s other positions included Senator of the College of Justice and George Commissioner of Justiciary in Scotland
George Washington
“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. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.” — George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
James Madison
“In the first place, it is to be remembered, that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws: its jurisdiction 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, Federalist No. 14, 1787
Thomas Jefferson
“Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power.” — Thomas Jefferson, The Kentucky Resolutions, 1799
Faith & Freedom Footnotes 