the principles on which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we but Obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they called for. it issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom which alone can ensure to man...

the contest which began with us which ushered in the dawn of our National existence and led us through various and trying Scenes, was for every thing dear to free born man.

the paper of July 4. 76. was but the Declaration, the genuine effusion of the soul of our country at that time.

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...

I hope & firmly believe that the whole world will, sooner or later, feel benefit from the issue of our assertion of the rights of man.

my affections were first for my own country, and then generally for all mankind.

I thank heaven that the 4th of July is over. It is always a day of great fatigue to me, and of some embarrassments from improper intrusions and some from unintended exclusions.

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, & to assume among the powers of the earth the equal & independant station. ... We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are...

Congress proceeded the same day to consider the declaration of Independance which had been reported & laid on the table the Friday preceding and on Monday referred to a commee of the whole. the pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds...

“I have made it a rule, said he, whenever in my power, to avoid becoming the draughtsman of papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from an incident which I will relate to you. when I was a journeyman printer, one of my companions, an apprentice Hatter ... was about to open shop...