"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." Patrick Henry
"I predict future
happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the
labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Thomas Jefferson
"I ... place economy
among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as
the greatest of dangers to be feared... And to preserve (our)
independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We
must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude".
Thomas Jefferson, from a letter to Governor Plumer
"And I sincerely
believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than
standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by
posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large
scale." Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, Monticell
"History records
that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and
violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by
controlling the money and its issuance." James Madison
"It is incumbent on
every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on
would save one-half the wars of the world." Thomas Jefferson to AL Destutt de Tracy
"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 them, will deprive the people of their property until their
children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered". Thomas Jefferson
" The money powers prey
upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of
adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy,
more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who
question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies,
the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the
one at my rear is my greatest foe". Abraham Lincoln
"If Congress has a
right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to them to use
by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations". Andrew Jackson
"The Constitution is
colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens."
John Marshall (That does not account for peoples attitudes then
anymore then it does now.)
Benjamin Franklin said:
"The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to
pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
"A constitution is not
the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and
government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised
over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or
assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all
assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and
quality of either." Thomas Paine
"The right of the people
to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants
shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to
be seized. If Virtue & Knowledge
are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav'd. This will be their great Security". John
Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson
" A good government is
one which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to
regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not
take from the mouth of labor the bread that it has earned ." Thomas Jefferson, Inaugural Address
"I wish it were
possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would
be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of
our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal
Government the power of borrowing". Thomas Jefferson to John
Taylor
"There is no
nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction,
should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of
the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and
negligence. I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I
fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and
fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made
the dupes of designing men and become the instruments of their own undoing."
Daniel Webster
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