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The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.

George Washington

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George Washington
Age: 67 †
Born: 1732
Born: February 22
Died: 1799
Died: December 14
1St U.S. President
Cartographer
Engineer
Farmer
Land Surveyor
Military Officer
Politician
Slaveholder
Statesperson
Westmoreland County
Virginia
Washington
President Washington
G. Washington
Father of the United States
The American Fabius
Government
Rebellion
Right
Patriotic
Make
Basis
People
Bases
Constitution
Inspiration
Constitutions
System
Alter
Political
Founders

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Let vice and immorality of every kind be discouraged as much as possible in your brigade and, as a chaplain is allowed to each regiment, see that the men regularly attend during worship. Gaming of every kind is expressly forbidden, as being the foundation of evil, and the cause of many a brave and gallant officer's and soldier's ruin.
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The Constitution that we have is an excellent one, if we can keep it where it is.
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Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
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In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars.
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Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East or West. You are all dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one word, be a nation. Be Americans, and be true to yourselves.
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Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue?
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It will at least be a recommendation to the proposed constitution that it is provided with more checks and barriers against the introduction of tyranny, and those of a nature less liable to be surmounted, than any government hitherto instituted among mortals hath possessed.
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We had quitters during the Revolution too...we called them 'Kentuckians.'
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A people... who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything.
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The Commander in Chief directs that Divine service be performed every Sunday at 11 o'clock...It is expected that officers of all ranks will by their attendance set an example to their men.
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What a triumph for the advocates of despotism to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious.
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The necessity of procuring good Intelligence is apparent & need not be further urged-All that remains for me to add, is, that you keep the whole matter as secret as possible. For upon Secrecy, Success depends in most Enterprizes of the kind, and for want of it, they are generally defeated, however well planned & promising a favourable issue.
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At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.
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I am once more seated under my own vine and fig tree ... and hope to spend the remainder of my days in peaceful retirement, making political pursuits yield to the more rational amusement of cultivating the earth.
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Serious misfortunes, originating in misrepresentation, frequently flow and spread before they can be dissipated by truth.
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Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can exist apart from religious principle.
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[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists . . . an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness.
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In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome as to not give liberty to each one to deliver his opinion and submit to the judgment of the major part, especially if they are judges of the dispute.
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The ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, nor to be counteracted by the utmost efforts of human power or wisdom, resignation, and as far as the strength of our reason and religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will, is what we are to aim.
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