C
CelticWarlord
Guest
For my American friends, including and especially my dear wife, I salute this day of Independence with a selection of quotes from among the 56 men who signed the great document, the Declaration, a framed copy of which hangs in my home.
John Hancock, Massachusetts ; "People who pay greater respect to a wealthy villain than to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be enslaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it may be acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred to virtue."
Edward Rutledge, South Carolina; "I always considered an idle Life, as a real evil, but, a life of such hurry, such constant hurry, leaves us scarcely a moment for reflection or for the discharge of any other then the most immediate and pressing concerns."
Samuel Chase, Maryland; "I cannot subscribe to the omnipotence of a State legislature."
Roger Sherman, Connecticut; "Sad will be the day when the American people forget their traditions and their history, and no longer remember that the country they love, the institutions they cherish, and the freedom they hope to preserve, were born from the throes of armed resistance to tyranny, and nursed in the rugged arms of fearless men."
William Whipple, New Hampshire ; "I am sorry to say that sometimes matters of very small importance waste a good deal of precious time, by the long and repeated speeches and chicanery of gentlemen who will not wholly throw off the lawyer even in Congress."
Abraham Clark, New Jersey ; "While General Howe with a Large Armament is advancing towards New York, our Congress resolved to Declare the United Colonies free and Independent States. A Declaration for this Purpose, I expect, will this day pass Congress…It is gone so far that we must now be a free independent State, or a Conquered Country."
George Clymer, Pennsylvania; "A printer publishes a lie: for which he ought to stand in the pillory, for the people believe in and act upon it."
Thomas Jefferson, Virginia ; "I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have … The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so it will not become the legalized version of the first."
Code:
- - - - - - -Edward Rutledge, South Carolina; "I always considered an idle Life, as a real evil, but, a life of such hurry, such constant hurry, leaves us scarcely a moment for reflection or for the discharge of any other then the most immediate and pressing concerns."
Samuel Chase, Maryland; "I cannot subscribe to the omnipotence of a State legislature."
Roger Sherman, Connecticut; "Sad will be the day when the American people forget their traditions and their history, and no longer remember that the country they love, the institutions they cherish, and the freedom they hope to preserve, were born from the throes of armed resistance to tyranny, and nursed in the rugged arms of fearless men."
William Whipple, New Hampshire ; "I am sorry to say that sometimes matters of very small importance waste a good deal of precious time, by the long and repeated speeches and chicanery of gentlemen who will not wholly throw off the lawyer even in Congress."
Abraham Clark, New Jersey ; "While General Howe with a Large Armament is advancing towards New York, our Congress resolved to Declare the United Colonies free and Independent States. A Declaration for this Purpose, I expect, will this day pass Congress…It is gone so far that we must now be a free independent State, or a Conquered Country."
George Clymer, Pennsylvania; "A printer publishes a lie: for which he ought to stand in the pillory, for the people believe in and act upon it."
Thomas Jefferson, Virginia ; "I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have … The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so it will not become the legalized version of the first."