Today we celebrate fathers and wish
Happy Father's Day
to fathers from the majestic purple mountains,
to the fruited plains,
to thine alabaster cities
and from sea to shining sea!
With a special shout-out to some of this country's most important fathers ...
Our Founding Fathers
and the wisdom they possessed when creating our beloved country from scratch
Follow our Founders over the squiggly ...
George Washington, Founding Father and 1st President, Issued Proclamation, October 3, 1789:
“The second concern for the Founders in drafting the First Amendment was that all citizens should be free to practice their religion freely, without interference from government, so long as that practice does not violate the rights of others or threaten the common good.”
http://www.pbs.org/...
John Adams, Founding Father and 2nd President, Thoughts on Government, 1776:
“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.”
http://oll.libertyfund.org/...
Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and 3rd President, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801:
“During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good.”
http://www.bartleby.com/...
James Madison, Founding Father and 4th President, Federalist Papers, No. 57, February 19, 1788:
“The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust. The elective mode of obtaining rulers is the characteristic policy of republican government. The means relied on in this form of government for preventing their degeneracy are numerous and various. The most effectual one, is such a limitation of the term of appointments as will maintain a proper responsibility to the people.”
http://madison.thefreelibrary.com/...
Alexander Hamilton, Founding Father and 1st Secretary of the Treasury, Citing David Hume, February 5, 1775:
“‘Political writers,’ says a celebrated author, ‘have established it as a maxim, that, in contriving any system of government, and fixing the several checks and controls of the constitution, every man ought to be supposed a knave, and to have no other end, in all his actions, but private interest. By this interest we must govern him, and by means of it make him co-operate to public good, notwithstanding his insatiable avarice and ambition. Without this we shall in vain boast of the advantages of any constitution, and shall find, in the end, that we have no security for our liberties, and possessions except the good-will of our rulers—that is, we should have no security at all.’”
http://oll.libertyfund.org/...
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Happy Father's Day To Our Nation's Founding Fathers
We hope to return to the country you fought to establish come November.
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(Shout out to TomR2D2 for these amazing quotes!)
Now please visit The Winning Words Project and read: Reclaiming American History, Part I—Focus on the Founders »