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If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.

Samuel Adams

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Samuel Adams
Age: 81 †
Born: 1722
Born: September 27
Died: 1803
Died: October 2
Founding Father Of The United States
Philosopher
Politician
Boston
Massachusetts
Sam Adams
Slave
Approbation
Laws
Enforce
Public
Slaves
Law
Voting
Cannot
Yield
Give
Bound
Giving
Obedience
Make
Bounds

More quotes by Samuel Adams

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Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty, in matters spiritual and temporal is a thing that all men are clearly entitled to by the eternal and immutable laws of God and nature, as well as by the laws of nations and all well-grounded and municipal laws, which must have their foundation in the former.
Samuel Adams
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Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.
Samuel Adams
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The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.
Samuel Adams
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In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.
Samuel Adams
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The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.
Samuel Adams
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The Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.
Samuel Adams
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For no People will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can they easily be subdued, where Knowledge is diffusd and Virtue preservd . On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own Weight, without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
Samuel Adams
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It is not unfrequent to hear men declaim loudly upon liberty, who, if we may judge by the whole tenor of their actions, mean nothing else by it but their own liberty, to oppress without control or the restraint of laws all who are poorer or weaker than themselves.
Samuel Adams
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Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords.
Samuel Adams
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It requires time to bring honest Men to think & determine alike even in important Matters. Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.
Samuel Adams
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We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection
Samuel Adams
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If we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.
Samuel Adams
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If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
Samuel Adams
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The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people.
Samuel Adams
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Nil desperandum, -- Never Despair. That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it.
Samuel Adams
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May every citizen ... have a proper sense of the Deity upon his mind and an impression of the declaration recorded in the Bible, 'Him that honoreth Me I will honor, but he that despiseth Me shall be lightly esteemed.'
Samuel Adams
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The next step may be fatal to us. Let us then act like wise men, calmly look around us and consider what is best to be done...Let associations and combinations be everywhere set up to consult and recover our just rights.
Samuel Adams
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Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals.
Samuel Adams
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I thank God that I have lived to see my country independent and free. She may long enjoy her independence and freedom if she will. It depends on her virtue.
Samuel Adams
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Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter.
Samuel Adams