Tag Archives: First Principles

First Principles: The Care of Human Life and Happiness, and Not Their Destruction, Is the First and Only Legitimate Object of Good Government

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson (1809)

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First Principles: Wondrously Strange Then and Much To Be Regretted…Were We To Neglect the Means and To Depart From the Road Which Providence Has Pointed Us To So Plainly

“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: A Free People (Claim) Their Rights As Derived From the Laws of Nature, and Not As the Gift of Their Chief Magistrate

“A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” – Thomas Jefferson (1774)

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First Principles: Guard With Jealous Attention the Public Liberty. Suspect Every One Who Approaches That Jewel.

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” – Patrick Henry (1788)

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First Principles: 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

“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.” – Benjamin Franklin (1774)

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First Principles: No Government, Any More Than An Individual, Will Long Be Respected Without Being Truly Respectable

“No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected without being truly respectable; nor be truly respectable, without possessing a certain portion of order and stability.” – James Madison (1788)

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First Principles: The Foundation of National Morality Must Be Laid In Private Families

“The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families. … In vain are schools, academies, and universities instituted, if loose principles and licentious habits are impressed upon children in their earliest years.” – John Adams (1778)

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First Principles: He Who Permits Himself To Tell A Lie Once, Finds It…Becomes Habitual

“There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual.” – … Continue reading

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First Principles: The Right To Freedom Being the Gift of God Almighty, It Is Not the Power of Man To Alienate This Gift

“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 … Continue reading

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First Principles: The Root of the Kingdom Is In the State. The Root of the State Is In the Family. The Root of the Family Is In the Person of Its Head.

“The root of the kingdom is in the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head.” – Mencius

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