Quote

The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.

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
Love
Form
Abuse
Despotism
Truth
Thus
Satisfy
Power
Position
Tyrants
Proneness
Government
Create
Tends
Predominates
Human
Politics
Department
Consolidate
Humans
Whatever
Tyranny
Encroachment
Real
Spirit
Sufficient
Departments
Heart
Political
Powers
Estimate

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I anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
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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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A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.
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Our conflict is not likely to cease so soon as every good man would wish. The measure of iniquity is not yet filled and unless we can return a little more to first principles, and act a little more upon patriotic ground, I do not know when it will.
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To please everybody is impossible were I to undertake it, I should probably please nobody.
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I commend you, however, for passing the time in as merry a manner as you possibly could it is assuredly better to go laughing than crying thro' the rough journey of life.
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Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
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Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to and well has it been said, that if there had been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one.
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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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Honesty will be found on every experiment, to be the best and only true policy let us then as a Nation be just.
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As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.
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Let me ... warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.
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Every post is honourable in which a man can serve his country.
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Among many other weighty objections to the Measure, it has been suggested, that it has a tendency to introduce religious disputes into the Army, which above all things should be avoided, and in many instances would compel men to a mode of Worship which they do not profess.
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It is to be lamented that great characters are seldom without a blot.
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To secure respect to a neutral flag requires a naval force organized and ready to vindicate it from insult or aggression.
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I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation had a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another that every one had a right to form and adopt whatever government they liked best to live under themselves.
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There is an indissoluble union between a magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity.
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The situation of the general government, if it can be called a government, is shaken to its foundation, and liable to be overturned by every blast.
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There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.
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