Liberty Quotes - Daily Email History

"Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose. If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens."

~ Richard Henry Lee  

"But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same object,
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,
it is their right, it is their duty,
to throw off such government, and
to provide new guards for their future security."

~ Declaration of Independence  

"Because we fear the responsibility for our actions,
we have allowed ourselves to develop the mentality of slaves.
Contrary to the stirring sentiments of the Declaration of Independence,
we now pledge "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor"
not to one another for our mutual protection, but to the state,
whose actions continue to exploit, despoil, and destroy us."

~ Butler D. Shaffer  

"The War between the States... produced the foundation for the kind of government we have today: consolidated and absolute, based on the unrestrained will of the majority, with force, threats, and intimidation being the order of the day. Today's federal government is considerably at odds with that envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. ... [The War] also laid to rest the great principle enunciated in the Declaration of Independence that 'Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed'."

~ Walter E. Williams  

"The States acceded to the Union."

~ Benjamin Franklin  

"The States are nations."

~ Daniel Webster  

"The thirteen States are thirteen Sovereignties."

~ James Wilson  

"By a Declaration, Liberty is born.
With Courage she is nourished, and
with unceasing Commitment she is guarded."

~ Eric Schaub  

"On the distinctive principles of the Government ... of the U. States, the best guides are to be found in ... The Declaration of Independence, as the fundamental Act of Union of these States."

~ James Madison  

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;"

~ Thomas Jefferson  

"If the American Revolution had produced nothing
but the Declaration of Independence,
it would have been worthwhile."

~ Samuel Eliot Morison  

"America was founded on the principle of inalienable rights, not dictated duties. The Declaration of Independence states that every human being has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It does not state that he is born a slave to the needs of others."

~ Alex Epstein  

"There is a place for government in the affairs of men, and
our Declaration of Independence tells us precisely what that place is.
The role of government is to protect individuals in their God-given
individual rights. Freedom is the natural birthright of man, but all
that government can do in behalf of freedom is to let the individual alone,
and it should secure him in his rights by making others let him alone."

~ Rev. Edmund A. Opitz