Historical Lit. 101

*written on the middle of chalk board*
*"...they who do not learn from History are DOOMED to repeat it." *

To start with, I will list an insanely long list of quotes, from the early patriotic movement of the United States of America. This class is voluntary, I will be awarding points to those who participate. To participate, please read all of the below. Comments are welcome, no wise guys, or I'll be tempted to issue WARNs.


"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
- United States Constitution, Tenth Amendment

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
- Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Nothing... is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
- Thomas Jefferson

"It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it."
-Thomas Jefferson to James Lewis, Jr., 1798

"Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!"
- Thomas Jefferson

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."
- Thomas Jefferson

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free...it expects what never was and never will be."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as they are injurious to others."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms [of government] those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
- Thomas Jefferson

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks], will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
- Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
- Thomas Jefferson

"I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."
- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787

"We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude."
- Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816

"Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The freedom and happiness of man... are the sole objects of all legitimate government."
- Thomas Jefferson

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
- Thomas Jefferson

"I swear upon the altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."
-Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
- Thomas Jefferson

"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."
- Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824

"None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is therefore at all times important."
- Thomas Jefferson

"...the tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots"
- Thomas Jefferson

"No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms (within his own lands or tenements)."
- Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution with (his note added), 1776. Papers, 1:353

"[The] governor [is] constitutionally the commander of the militia of the State, that is to say, of every man in it able to bear arms."
- Thomas Jefferson to A. L. C. Destutt de Tracy, 1811



Still reading? Have any of you made it this far, do you really have this much time on your hands or is this just that interesting. Oh well, here is the rest of todays lesson.


"Americans [have] the right and advantage of being armed--unlike citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust people with arms."
- James Madison

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined...The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.
- Patrick Henry

"There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle."
- Alexis de Tocqueville

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety...."
- Benjamin Franklin

"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."
- George Mason

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
- Albert Einstein

"Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law."
- Henry David Thoreau

"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it."
- Judge Learned Hand

Nay, the number of armies importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for as Virgil saith, "It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be."
- Sir Francis Bacon, Essays, 1625

"Freedom and liberty lose out by default because good people are not vigilant."
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

"The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves."
- Dresden James

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."
- Alexander Hamilton

Those few quotes, will bring this weeks lesson to an end. Now I know many of you probably didn't read everything presented. Some of you may be wondering, how is Advisor going to allocate points?

Points will be given to those who can present to me the context in which these quotes were taken. As it is easy to mistake the context of the original terms of meaning.


Bonus question!
For extra points, who and in what context was this quote said;

"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."

Originally posted by ADVISOR

Bonus question!
For extra points, who and in what context was this quote said;

"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."

It was said by George Washington, however i cannot remember in what context it was said.

However, i feel it was said with this quote;

"A free people ought... to be armed..."

- George Washington -
Speech of 7 January 1790 in the Boston Independent Chronicle, 14 January 1790

Originally posted by ADVISOR

"Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law."
- Henry David Thoreau

Another good quote,

"If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would ... [be] the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible." - Henry David Thoreau

And a great quote from Emerson,

"In dealing with the State, we ought to remember that its institutions are not aboriginal, though they existed before we were born; that they are not superior to the citizen; that every one of them was once the act of a single man; every law and usage was a man's expedient to meet a particular case; that they all are imitable, all alterable; we may make as good; we may make better." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

that's a lot of homework Advisor! Let's just start with Thomas Jefferson, my all time hero. That guy WAS THE MAN!! He hated government with every ounce of his being and was almost considered an anarchist. The context given in most of those quotes is that he was speaking for the future people of the country (sorry, my English keeps getting worse the longer I'm here!). He knew that if we became ignorant and lazy all of the things he warned us about would come to pass. In a way he was almost prophetic. So, in conclusion, those were all warnings for future generations.