I Had Heard My Father Say That

What Is To Become Of An Independent Statesman, One Who Will Bow The Knee To No Idol, Who Will Worship Nothing As A Divinity But Truth, Virtue, And His Country? I Will Tell You; He Will Be Regarded More By Posterity Than Those Who Worship Hounds And Horses; And Although He Will Not Make His Own Fortune, He Will Make The Fortune Of His Country.

[l]iberty Must At All Hazards Be Supported. We Have A Right To It, Derived From Our Maker. But If We Had Not, Our Fathers Have Earned And Bought It For Us, At The Expense Of Their Ease, Their Estates, Their Pleasure, And Their Blood.

To Be Good, And To Do Good, Is All We Have To Do.

Since Natural Law Was Thought To Be Accessible To The Ordinary Man, The Theory Invited Each Juror To Inquire For Himself Whether A Particular Rule Of Law Was Consonant With Principles Of Higher Law. This View Is Reflected In John Adams' Statement That It Would Be An 'absurdity' For Jurors To Be Required To Accept The Judge's View Of The Law, 'against Their Own Opinion, Judgment, And Conscience.'

I Have Long Been Settled In My Own Opinion That Neither Philosophy, Nor Religion, Nor Morality, Nor Wisdom, Nor Interest, Will Ever Govern Nations Or Parties, Against Their Vanity, Their Pride, Their Resentment, Or Revenge, Or Their Avarice, Or Ambition. Nothing But Force And Power And Strength Can Restrain Them.