the equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual are now acknoleged to be the only legitimate objects of government. modern times have the signal advantage too of having discovered the only device by which these rights can be secured, to wit, government by the people.
but the only security of all is in a free press. the force of public opinion cannot be resisted, when permitted freely to be expressed. the agitation it produces must be submitted to. it is necessary to keep the waters pure.
Your affectionate mother requests that I would address to you, as a namesake something which might have a favorable influence on the course of life you have to run. few words are necessary with good dispositions on your part. Adore God. reverence and cherish your parents. love your neighbor as...
In the disposition of these unfortunate people, there are two rational objects to be distinctly kept in view. 1. the establishment of a colony on the coast of Africa, which may introduce among the Aborigines the arts of cultivated life, and the blessings of civilisation and science. by doing this...
Our revolution commenced on more favorable ground. it presented us an Album on which we were free to write what we pleased. we had no occasion to search into musty records, to hunt up Royal parchments, or to investigate the laws & institutions of a semi-barbarous ancestry. we appealed to...
the constitutions of most of our states assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, both fact...
With respect to our state and federal governments, I do not think their relations correctly understood by foreigners. they generally suppose the former subordinate to the latter. but this is not the case. they are co-ordinate departments of one simple, and integral whole. to the State governments...
the Creator has made the earth for the living, not the dead. rights and powers can only belong to persons, not to things, the dead are not even things. not to mere matter, unendowed with will. the dead are not even things. the particles of matter which composed their bodies, make part now of the...
Your age of 84. and mine of 81. years ensure us a speedy meeting. we may then commune at leisure, and more fully, on the good and evil which, in the course of our long lives, we have both witnessed
Congress has just risen, having done nothing remarkable, except passing a tariff bill, by squeezing majorities, very revolting to a great portion of the people of the states, among whom, it is believed, it would not have recieved a vote but of the manufactories manufactorers themselves. it is...
I am no believer in the amalgamation of parties, nor do I consider it as either desirable or useful for the public; but only that, like religious differences, a difference in politics should never be permitted to enter into social intercourse, or to disturb its friendships, its charities or justice.
and I have observed this march of civilisation advancing from the sea coast, passing over us like a cloud of light, increasing our knolege and improving our condition … and where this progress will stop no one can say.
I am anxious to see the doctrine of one god commenced in our state. but the population of my neighborhood is too slender, and is too much divided into other sects to maintain any one Preacher well. I must therefore be contented to be an Unitarian by myself, altho I know there are many around me...
this was the object of the Declaration of Independance. not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject; in terms so plain and firm as to command their...
the march of events has not been such as to render it’s completion practicable within the limits of time allotted to me; and I leave it’s accomplishment as the work of another generation. and I am cheared when I see that on which it is devolved, taking it up with so much good will and such mind...
you left us in a state of political division, and in the same state you find us, and in that state I hope we shall ever be found. men are not made to have the same opinions, any more than the same features or bodily forms. we differ as others do; and on government as on other subjects.
it has been peculiarly fortunate too that the Professors brought from abroad were as happy a selection as could have been hoped, as well for their qualifications in science as correctness and amiableness of character. I think the example will be followed and that it cannot fail to be one of the...
literature is not yet a distinct profession with us. now and then a strong mind arises, and at it’s intervals of leisure from business, emits a flash of light. but the first object of young societies is bread and covering; science is but secondary and subsequent.
in the house in which I live, and it’s offices I have flat roofs of a different construction. they consist of rooflets 30. I. wide with gutturs between them. there are 2. strata of joists, the one about 9. I. higher than the other. arranged thus ... a single length of shingles reaches from the...
my sincere congratulations on your transition to that condition of society which nature has wisely made indispensable to the happiness of man, and my request that you will communicate the same to on my part to your chosen companion