All Might Be Free If They Valued

It Is No Dishonor To Be In A Minority In The Cause Of Liberty And Virtue

Just And True Liberty, Equal And Impartial Liberty, In Matters Spiritual And Temporal Is A Thing That All Men Are Clearly Entitled To By The Eternal And Immutable Laws Of God And Nature, As Well As By The Laws Of Nations And All Well-grounded And Municipal Laws, Which Must Have Their Foundation In The Former.

In A State Of Tranquility, Wealth, And Luxury, Our Descendants Would Forget The Arts Of War And The Noble Activity And Zeal Which Made Their Ancestors Invincible. Every Art Of Corruption Would Be Employed To Loosen The Bond Of Union Which Renders Our Resistance Formidable. When The Spirit Of Liberty Which Now Animates Our Hearts And Gives Success To Our Arms Is Extinct, Our Numbers Will Accelerate Our Ruin And Render Us Easier Victims To Tyranny.

Hence As A Private Man Has A Right To Say What Wages He Will Give In His Private Affairs, So Has A Community To Determine What They Will Give And Grant Of Their Substance For The Administration Of Public Affairs.

In The Midst Of These Pleasing Ideas We Should Be Unfaithful To Ourselves If We Should Ever Lose Sight Of The Danger To Our Liberties If Anything Partial Or Extraneous Should Infect The Purity Of Our Free, Fair, Virtuous, And Independent Elections.