Category Archives: First Principles

First Principles: We Should Trust In God Not Political Manipulation

“Their arts may be more dangerous than 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 (1776)    

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First Principles: Falseness of Tongue Leads To Falseness of Heart

“This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposition.” – Thomas Jefferson (1785)      

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First Principles: A Judge, Particularly A Supreme Court Justice, Should Be of Particular Merit, Character and Ability

“Judges, 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 … Continue reading

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First Principles: It Is Dearness That Gives Everything Its Value

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”  – Thomas Paine, 1776    

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First Principles: The United States Will Continue Richly Blessed As Long As We Follow God

“No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from … Continue reading

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First Principles: The Principle of Association Guarantees Everyone the Right To Free Exercise of Industry and the Right To the Fruit Acquired

“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate … Continue reading

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First Principles: We Determine To Die Or Be Free

“Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit — appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free.” – Joseph Warren, American account of the Battle … Continue reading

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First Principles: Do Not Squander The Time of Your Life

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.” —Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1746      

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First Principles: It is Our Duty To Resist Wrongful Force Exerted For Bad Purposes

“Has force, exerted for the purposes of malevolance, a right to command? Can it impose an obligation to obey? No. Resistance to such force is a right, and, if resistance can prove effectual, it is a duty also.” – James … Continue reading

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First Principles: No Constitution Can Stand Alone Against Boundless Ambition and Corrupted Morals

“No compact among men … can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and … no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current … Continue reading

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