I think his
ideas about government are very simple: a government will take as much power as we, the people,
will give them. If we're not careful, they will take it all. The founders of our country were
keenly aware of this.
"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot
be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion
to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve
its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the
spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts,
pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty
must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood...
No comments:
Post a Comment