Issue 30.16
Part 3
Today, we conclude the examination of quotes from our founders on the relationship of virtue to good government and the success of the republic.
From Thomas Jefferson:
And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever. Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781
Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you… From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death….. It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposition letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785
I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. letter to William Ludlow, September 6, 1824
Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts…in which all religions agree. Westmoreland County Petition, November 2, 1785
The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. letter to John Taylor, May 28, 1816
Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence. So shall the life into which you have entered be the portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss. letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825
From Samuel Adams:
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader….. If Virtue & Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav’d. This will be their great Security. letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779
Since private and publick Vices, are in Reality, though not always apparently, so nearly connected, of how much Importance, how necessary is it, that the utmost Pains be taken by the Publick, to have the Principles of Virtue early inculcated on the Minds even of children, and the moral Sense kept alive, and that the wise institutions of our Ancestors for these great Purposes be encouraged by the Government. For no people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775
And from Richard Henry Lee in a Letter to Colobel Martin Pickett, March 5, 1786
It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people.
We conclude this series by repeating what John Adams said – Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Lynn West is a thinker, a teacher and a patriot. You can reach him through email at forgingthefuture2021@gmail.com or through this newspaper. Liberty is a state of being which must be continually created. These articles can help all of us discover the ways we can contribute to that outcome.