Thomas Jefferson...

[Adsos Letter]

"But is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of protection we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may commence persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion."

"Notes on the State of Virginia" 1781.

[babylonsister]

1. Wow, prescient. Rec'd. And I have hope for our honest prez-elect. nt

[Adsos Letter]

3. Hey, babylonsister!

I am 2/3 the way through a series of Graduate History courses on "American Thought and Society: 1620-Present"

I am amazed at the wisdom and intellectual acumen of our predecessors... :hi:

[babylonsister]

5. Wow. I don't know that much about history, but quotes like this

always blow me away. It's like they knew we'd need them. And knew they could apply, without knowing what the future would bring. Smart founders indeed.

:pals:

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. These are the times that try men's souls

December 23, 1776

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.

http://www.ushistory.org/PAINE/crisis/c-01.htm

[Adsos Letter]

4. Ah, Thomas Paine...

and Common Sense...the most popular pamphlet of the Revolutionary Period.

I stand in awe of the intellect, risk, and suffering our predecessors brought to bear to deliver to us a republic of liberty.

[elleng]

6. Wes Clark:

"We're no better than our own sense of humility."

[pansypoo53219]

7. they drank a lot back then.

may have helped. but they WERE educated. dang, i have to get going on my oration books. i still have to get to america.
1906. edited by william jennings bryan. lots of good stuff in them.

[Adsos Letter]

8. I have read so many 17th-19th century sermons, orations, pamphlets

etc. over the last year...There were some powerful, powerful speakers and writers back then!

I just recently read Frederick Douglass' "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" <1852>

Actually I read it outloud, since it was originally an oration...man, THAT is the way to do it. Powerful stuff...

http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=162

Ah yes, William Jennings Bryan...eternal presidential candidate...

You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

Powerful stuff, indeed... :hug:

[snake in the grass]

9. He sure understood human nature.

[Adsos Letter]

10. kick for the daytime denizens...