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But if we are to be told by a foreign Power . . . what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.

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
Little
Foreign
Independence
Seek
Policy
Told
Shall
Power
Contended
Littles
Hitherto

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Extensive powers not exercised as far as was necessary have, I believe, scarcely ever failed to ruin the possessor.
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Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature and in all cases of passion admit reason to govern.
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Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest.
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It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free Country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective Constitutional spheres avoiding in the exercise of the Powers of one department to encroach upon another.
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No measure can be more desirable, whether viewed with an eye to its intrinsic importance, or to the general sentiment and wish of the Nation than to establish a systematic and effectual arrangement for the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt.
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The future of this nation depends on the Christian training of our youth.
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Liberty is indeed little less than a name, where the Government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of society within the limits prescribed by the law, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyme
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The Army (considering the irritable state it is in, its suffering and composition) is a dangerous instrument to play with.
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Let us with Caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.
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Since the death of my father four years ago, our lives have become difficult, and I must help my family.
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I wish from my soul that the legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery.
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It is in vain, I perceive, to look for ease and happiness in a world of troubles.
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The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.
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[The spirit of party] opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.
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Even the country's first president chafed at the limits placed on him by the writers of the U.S. Constitution. From the nature of the Constitution, ... I must approve all the parts of a bill, or reject it in toto.
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May Heaven to this Union continue its beneficence
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`Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free Government.
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I never have to grope for methods. The method is revealed at the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.
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The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.
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