VALUES FROM OUR
FOUNDING FATHERS
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
[L]iberty 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
[D]emocracy will soon
degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is
right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty
will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of
subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the
powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the
capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few.
John Adams, An Essay on Man's Lust for Power, 1763
Children should be educated
and instructed in the principles of freedom.
John Adams, Defense of the Constitutions, 1787
It should be your care,
therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their
courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in
them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity,
and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer
their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.
John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law,
1756
Let the pulpit resound with
the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of
man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God... Let it be
known that British liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments.
John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law,
1765
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,
1765
Facts are stubborn things;
and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our
passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
John Adams, in Defense of the British Soldiers on
trial for the Boston Massacre, 1770
But a Constitution of
Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost
is lost forever.
John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1775
I must study politics and
war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons
ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval
architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their
children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary,
tapestry, and porcelain.
John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1780
It has ever been my
hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of
two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among
them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would
still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we
can.
John Adams, letter to Count Sarsfield, February 3,
1786
Let justice be done though
the heavens should fall.
John Adams, letter to Elbridge Gerry, December 5,
1777
Men must be ready, they
must pride themselves and be happy to sacrifice their private pleasures,
passions and interests, nay, their private friendships and dearest connections,
when they stand in competition with the rights of society.
John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, April 16, 1776
The dons, the bashaws, the
grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what names you
please, sigh and groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but
all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more
equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth must be
established in America.
John Adams, letter to Patrick Henry, June 3, 1776
Objects of the most
stupendous magnitude, and measure in which the lives and liberties of millions
yet unborn are intimately interested, are now before us. We are in the very
midst of a revolution the most complete, unexpected and remarkable of any in
the history of nations.
John Adams, letter to William Cushing, June 9, 1776
They define a republic to
be a government of laws, and not of men.
John Adams, Nocangul No. 7, 1775
The committee met,
discussed the subject, [of the Declaration of Independence] and then appointed
Mr. Jefferson and me to make the draught, I suppose because we were the two
first on the list. The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me to make the
draught. Adams: I will not. Jefferson: You should do it. Adams: Oh! no.
Jefferson: Why will you not? You ought to do it. Adams: I will not. Jefferson:
Why? Adams: Reasons enough. Jefferson: What can be your reasons? Adams: Reason
first -- You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of
this business. Reason second -- I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular. You
are very much otherwise. Reason third -- You can write ten times better than I
can. Jefferson: Well if you are decided, I will do as well as I can. Adams:
Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting.
John Adams, on the drafting of the Declaration of
Independence
If men through fear, fraud
or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right,
the eternal law of reason and the great end of society, would absolutely vacate
such renunciation; the right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is
not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave.
John Adams, Rights of the Colonists, 1772
Human nature itself is
evermore an advocate for liberty. There is also in human nature a resentment of
injury, and indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration of virtue.
These amiable passions, are the "latent spark" ... If the people are
capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and
false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the
friends of mankind apply than to the sense of this difference.
John Adams, the Novanglus, 1775
[J]udges, therefore, should
be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals,
great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be
distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man,
or body of men.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
[J]udges, therefore, should
be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals,
great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be
distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man,
or body of men.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
A constitution founded on
these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with
a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which
causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general.
That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common
people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them
sober, industrious, and frugal.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
As good government is an
empire of laws, how shall your laws be made? In a large society, inhabiting an
extensive country, it is impossible that the whole should assemble to make
laws. The first necessary step, then, is to depute power from the many to a few
of the most wise and good.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
Each individual of the
society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life,
liberty, and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently,
to contribute his share to the expense of this protection; and to give his
personal service, or an equivalent, when necessary. But no part of the property
of any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public
uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the
people. In fine, the people of this commonwealth are not controllable by any
other laws than those to which their constitutional representative body have
given their consent.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
Fear is the foundation of
most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in
whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not
be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
Government is instituted
for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of
the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man,
family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable,
unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform,
alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity,
and happiness require it.
John Adams, Article VII, Massachusetts Constitution
That, as a republic is the
best of governments, so that particular arrangements of the powers of society,
or, in other words, that form of government which is best contrived to secure
an impartial and exact execution of the laws, is the best of republics.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
The dignity and stability
of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing
of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice,
that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and
executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, and
both should be checks upon that.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
Upon this point all
speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of
government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness
of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow that
the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one
word, happiness, to the greatest numbers of persons, and in the greatest
degree, is the best.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
I have accepted a seat in
the [Massachusetts] House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my
own ruin, to your ruin, and the ruin of our children. I give you this warning,
that you may prepare your mind for your fate.
John Adams, to Abigail Adams, 1770
What is it that
affectionate parents require of their Children; for all their care, anxiety,
and toil on their accounts? Only that they would be wise and virtuous,
Benevolent and kind.
Abigail Adams, letter to John Quincy Adams, November
20, 1783
[N]either the wisest
constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a
people whose manners are universally corrupt.
Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749
No people will tamely
surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is
diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally
ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight
without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775
Nothing is more essential
to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in
places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775
The public cannot be too curious
concerning the characters of public men.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775
Our unalterable resolution
would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be
praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then
renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and
under God trust our cause to our swords.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, April 16, 1776
A general dissolution of
principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than
the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot
be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to
surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12,
1779
What a glorious morning
this is!
Samuel Adams, to John Hancock at the Battle of
Lexington, 1775
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
I pronounce it as certain
that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly
virtuous.
Benjamin Franklin
No nation was ever ruined
by trade, even seemingly the most disadvantageous.
Benjamin Franklin and George Whaley, Principles of
Trade, 1774
We must all hang together,
or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
Benjamin Franklin, (attributed) at the signing of the
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Early to bed, early to rise
makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Benjamin Franklin, Advice to Young Tradesman, 1748
Slavery is such an
atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not
performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils.
Benjamin Franklin, An Address to the Public,
November, 1789
Human Felicity is produced
not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little
Advantages that occur every Day.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
In reality there is perhaps
no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it,
struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases,
it is still alive, and will now and then peek out and show itself.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
Resolve to perform what you
ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
This gave me occasion to
observe, that when Men are employ'd they are best contented. For on the Days
they work'd they were good-natur'd and chearful; and with the consciousness of
having done a good Days work they spent the Evenings jollily; but on the idle
Days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their Pork, the
Bread, &c. and in continual ill-humour.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
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, 1774
He that goes a borrowing
goes a sorrowing.
Benjamin Franklin, from his writings, 1758
They that can give up
essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither
liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania,
1759
Where liberty dwells, there
is my country.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Benjamin Vaughn, March
14, 1783
Repeal that [welfare] law,
and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday,
will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the
old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a
respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower
people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness
by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all
your estates among them.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Collinson, 1753
Our new Constitution is now
established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world
nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy,
November 13, 1789
Be in general virtuous, and
you will be happy.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to John Alleyne, 1768
[I]t is a common
observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are
fighting for their liberty in defending our own.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Samuel Cooper, May 1,
1777
[E]very Man who comes among
us, and takes up a piece of Land, becomes a Citizen, and by our Constitution
has a Voice in Elections, and a share in the Government of the Country.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to William Straham, 1784
I am for doing good to the
poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good
to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them
out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries,
that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided
for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was
done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and
Management of the Poor, 1766
It is very imprudent to
deprive America of any of her privileges. If her commerce and friendship are of
any importance to you, they are to be had on no other terms than leaving her in
the full enjoyment of her rights.
Benjamin Franklin, Political Observations
A penny saved is twopence
clear.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
Have you something to do
to-morrow; do it to-day.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
Here comes the orator! With
his flood of words, and his drop of reason.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
Keep your eyes wide open
before marriage, half shut afterwards.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
Strive to be the greatest
man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you
may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
A fine genius in his own
country is like gold in the mine.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1733
How many observe Christ's
birth-day! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than
Commandments.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1743
Wish not so much to live
long as to live well.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1746
A Spoonful of Honey will
catch more Flies than a Gallon of Vinager.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1748
Having been poor is no
shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1749
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
And as to the Cares, they
are chiefly what attend the bringing up of Children; and I would ask any Man
who has experienced it, if they are not the most delightful Cares in the World;
and if from that Particular alone, he does not find the Bliss of a double State
much greater, instead of being less than he expected.
Benjamin Franklin, Reply to a Piece of Advice, 1735
To the haranguers of the
populace among the ancients, succeed among the moderns your writers of
political pamphlets and news-papers, and your coffee-house talkers.
Benjamin Franklin, Reply to Coffee House Orators,
1767
The happy State of
Matrimony is, undoubtedly, the surest and most lasting Foundation of Comfort
and Love; the Source of all that endearing Tenderness and Affection which
arises from Relation and Affinity; the grand Point of Property; the Cause of
all good Order in the World, and what alone preserves it from the utmost
Confusion; and, to sum up all, the Appointment of infinite Wisdom for these
great and good Purposes.
Benjamin Franklin, Rules and Maxims for Promoting
Matrimonial Happiness, 1730
Strangers are welcome
because there is room enough for them all, and therefore the old Inhabitants
are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them sufficiently so that they have
no need of the Patronage of great Men; and every one will enjoy securely the
Profits of his Industry. But if he does not bring a Fortune with him, he must
work and be industrious to live.
Benjamin Franklin, Those Who Would Remove to America,
February, 1784
Without Freedom of Thought
there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty,
without Freedom of Speech.
Benjamin Franklin, writing as Silence Dogood, No. 8,
1722
[H]owever weak our country
may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties.
Alexander Hamilton
As on the one hand, the necessity
for borrowing in particular emergencies cannot be doubted, so on the other, it
is equally evident that to be able to borrow upon good terms, it is essential
that the credit of a nation should be well established.
Alexander Hamilton
No man in his senses can
hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave.
Alexander Hamilton, 1774
Experience is the oracle of
truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and
sacred.
Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Federalist No.
20, December 11, 1787
In politics, as in religion,
it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in
either can rarely be cured by persecution.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1, October 27,
1787
Of those men who have
overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their
career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and
ending tyrants.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1, October 27,
1787
The fabric of American
empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The
streams of national power ought to flow from that pure, original fountain of
all legitimate authority.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 22, December 14,
1787
In disquisitions of every
kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all
subsequent reasoning must depend.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 31, January 1,
1788
To judge from the history
of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that the fiery and destructive
passions of war reign in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the
mild and beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political
systems upon speculations of lasting tranquillity would be to calculate on the
weaker springs of human character.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 34, January 4,
1788
It is a just observation
that the people commonly intend the Public Good. This often applies to their
very errors. But their good sense would despise the adulator who should pretend
they always reason right about the means of promoting it.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 71, March 18, 1788
[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 truth is, after all the
declamations we have heard, that the Constitution is itself, in every rational
sense, and to every useful purpose, A BILL OF RIGHTS.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, 1788
The State governments
possess inherent advantages, which will ever give them an influence and
ascendancy over the National Government, and will for ever preclude the
possibility of federal encroachments. That their liberties, indeed, can be
subverted by the federal head, is repugnant to every rule of political
calculation.
Alexander Hamilton, speech to the New York Ratifying
Convention, June 17, 1788
While the constitution
continues to be read, and its principles known, the states, must, by every,
rational man, be considered as essential component parts of the union; and
therefore the idea of sacrificing the former to the latter is totally
inadmissible.
Alexander Hamilton, speech to the New York Ratifying
Convention, June 24, 1788
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, June, 1788
When you assemble from your
several counties in the Legislature, were every member to be guided only by the
apparent interest of his county, government would be impracticable. There must
be a perpetual accomodation and sacrifice of local advantage to general
expediency.
Alexander Hamilton, speech to the Ratifying
Convention of New York, June, 1788
A fondness for power is
implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired.
Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775
The fundamental source of
all your errors, sophisms and false reasonings is a total ignorance of the
natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you
could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a
parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of
the beneficent Creator to the whole human race, and that civil liberty is
founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most
manifest violation of justice.
Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775
There is a certain
enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of
bravery and heroism.
Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775
To grant that there is a
supreme intelligence who rules the world and has established laws to regulate
the actions of his creatures; and still to assert that man, in a state of
nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all restraints of law and
government, appears to a common understanding altogether irreconcilable. Good
and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar theory. They have
supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to himself and to each
other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably
obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever. This is
what is called the law of nature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of
mankind.
Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775
When occasions present
themselves, in which the interests of the people are at variance with their
inclinations, it is the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the
guardians of those interests, to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to
give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection.
Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, no 71
Patriotism is as much a
virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural
affection is for the support of families.
Benjamin Rush, 1773
The American war is over;
but this far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary,
nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish
and perfect our new forms of government, and to prepare the principles, morals,
and manners of our citizens for these forms of government after they are
established and brought to perfection.
Benjamin Rush, May 25, 1786
[I]f 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.
Candidus in the Boston Gazette, 1772
Don't fire unless fired
upon. But if they want a war let it begin here.
Captain John Parker, commander of the militiamen at
Lexington, Massachusetts, April 19, 1775
Under all those
disadvantages no men ever show more spirit or prudence than ours. In my opinion
nothing but virtue has kept our army together through this campaign.
Colonel John Brooks, letter to a friend, January 5,
1778
Honor, justice, and
humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our
gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive
from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding
generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely
entail hereditary bondage on them.
Continental Congress Declaration, 1775