Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, December 23, 1791
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. "
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 4, September 11, 1777
"At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent, sapping, by little and little, the foundations of the constitution, and working its change by construction, before any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account."
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Monsieur A. Coray, Oct 31, 1823
"Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves."
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories."
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781
Let us not forget that our founding fathers were indeed bright and brilliant men, for they had the foresight to look in the past to prepare for the future.
Audemus jura nostra defendere.
We Dare Defend Our Rights
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