People Of The American Revolution

"Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which, through Jesus Christ our Lord, he has conferred on my beloved country in her emancipation, and upon myself in permitting me, under circumstances of mercy, to live to the age of eighty-nine years, and to survive the fiftieth year of American independence, and certifying by my present signature my approbation of the Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress on the Fourth of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, which I originally subscribed on the second of August of the same year, and of which I am now the last surviving signer, I do hereby recommend to the present and future generations the principles of that important document, as the best earthly inheritance their ancestors could bequeath to them; and pray that the civil and religious liberties they have secured to my country may be perpetuated to the remotest posterity and extended to the whole family of man."

"I have gloried in my rebel countrymen! Would to God I, too, had been a patriot."

"Men, you are all marksmen — don't one of you fire until you see the white of their eyes."

"Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."

": R. Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph Warren (1865), p. 345"

"'Tis for you, brethren, for ourselves, for our united posterity, we hazard all; and permit us humbly to hope, that such a measure of vigilance, fortitude, and perseverance will still be afforded us, that, by patiently suffering and nobly daring, we may eventually secure that more precious than Hesperian fruit, the golden apples of freedom."

"When liberty is the prize, who would shun the warfare? Who would stoop to waste a coward thought on life?"

": E. B. Williston (ed.) Eloquence of the United States, vol. 5 (1827), pp. 2–16"

"May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name and a praise in the whole earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguished ruin!"

"Stain not the glory of your worthy ancestors, but like them, resolve never to part with your birth-right; be wise in your deliberations, and determined in your exertions for the preservation of your liberties."

"That man is formed for social life, is an observation, which, upon our first inquiry, presents itself immediately to our view, and our reason approves that wise and generous principle which actuated the first founders of civil government — an institution, which hath its origin in the weakness of individuals, and hath for its end, the strength and security of all: and so long as the means of effecting this important end are thoroughly known, and religiously attended to, government is one of the richest blessings to mankind, and ought to be held in the highest veneration."

"The greatest and most important right of a British subject is, that he shall be governed by no laws but those to which he either in person, or by his representative, hath given his consent: and this...is the grand basis of British freedom; it is interwoven with the constitution; and whenever this is lost, the constitution must be destroyed."

"Stand! the ground's your own, my braves! Will ye give it up to slaves? Will ye look for greener graves? Hope ye mercy still? What's the mercy despots feel? Hear it in that battle-peal! Read it on yon bristling steel! Ask it,—ye who will."

": E. B. Williston (ed.) Eloquence of the United States, vol. 5 (1827), pp. 30–42"

"His reputation in future time will rest, as a patriot, on the manly independence which gave through the initiatory stage and progress of the Revolution the strong influence of the press he directed toward the cause of freedom, when royal flattery would have seduced and the power of government subdued its action."

"Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest'eguaglianza è necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all'altro nel diritto naturale."

"Open to all parties, but influenced by none."

"The day I hope is approaching when, from principles of gratitude as well as justice, every man will strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to comply with the Golden Rule. Not less than twenty thousand pounds sterling would all my Negroes produce if sold at public auction tomorrow. I am not the man who enslaved them; they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor; nevertheless I am devising means for manumitting many of them, and for cutting off the entail of slavery. Great powers oppose me—the laws and customs of my country, my own and the avarice of my countrymen. What will my children say if I deprive them of so much estate? These are difficulties, but not insuperable. I will do as much as I can in my time, and leave the rest to a better hand."

"I presume your Grand Children are with you, and doubt not that they will afford you every consolation that existing Circumstances will admit. Present me affectionately and sympathetically to them they also have lost a protecting affectionate Connection, and I have lost a much valued Friend."

"When in society she will animate and give a brilliancy to the whole Conversation; you know the uncommons command she has of Language and her ideas flow with rapidity."

"Like Mira, Virtue’s Self possess Let her adorn your Mind For Virtue in a pleasing dress Has Charms for all Mankind Her spotless Mantle shall be shown When its blest Owner flies The Flaming Chariot make it known When Soaring to the Skies."

"Dined at Mr. Powells -- A most sinfull Feast again! Every Thing which could delight the Eye, or allure the Taste."

"[The Powels were] difficult to separate from each other, who lived together not as man and wife… but as two friends, happily matched in point of understanding, taste, and information."

"Contrary to American custom, [Mrs. Powel] plays the leading role in the family. What chiefly distinguishes her is her taste for conversation [and] her wit and knowledge."

"[You] have frequently demonstrated that you possess an Empire over yourself. For Gods sake do not yield that Empire to a Love of Ease, Retirement, rural Pursuits, or a false Diffidence of Abilities which those that best know you so justly appreciate. Convince the World then that you are a practical Philosopher, and that your native Philanthropy has inducted you to relinquish an Object so Essiential to your Happiness...That you are not indifferent to the Plaudits of the World I must conclude when I believe that the love of honest Fame has and ever will be predominate in the best the noblest and most capable Natures. Nor is the Approbation of Mankind to be disregarded with Impunity even by you."

"Your resignation wou'd elate the Enemies of good Government...They would say that you were actuated by Principles of self-Love alone—that you saw the Post was not tenable with any Prospect of adding to your Fame. The antifederalists would use it as an argument for dissolving the Union, and would urge that you, from Experience, had found the present System a bad one, and had, artfully, withdrawn from it that you might not be crushed under its Ruins."

"Powel: Well, Doctor, what have we got? Benjamin Franklin: A republic, Madam, if you can keep it. Powel: And why not keep it? Franklin: Because the people, on tasting the dish, are always disposed to eat more of it than does them good."

"I have certainly experienced severe trials, and some hard dispensations of Providence … To travel with some dignity, innocence, and usefulness, down the Road which leads from the Morning of Youth to the Night of the Grave, is perhaps as much as we can flatter ourselves with accomplishing."

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

"Hale is in the American pantheon not because of what he did but because of why he did it."

"And because that boy said those words, and because he died, thousands of other young men have given their lives to his country."

"‘Hate of oppression’s arbitrary plan, The love of freedom, and the rights of man; A strong desire to save from slavery’s chain The future millions of the western main, And hand down safe, from men’s invention cleared, The sacred truths which all the just revered; For ends like these, I wish to draw my breath,’ He bravely cried, ‘or dare encounter death.’ And when a cruel wretch pronounced his doom, Replied, ‘Tis well, — for all is peace to come; The sacred cause for which I drew my sword Shall yet prevail, and peace shall be restored. I’ve served with zeal the land that gave me birth, Fulfilled my course, and done my work on earth; Have ever aimed to tread that shining road That leads a mortal to the blessed God. I die resigned, and quit life’s empty stage, For brighter worlds my every wish engage; And while my body slumbers in the dust, My soul shall join the assemblies of the just.’"

"However, at the gallows, he made a sensible and spirited speech; among other things, told them they were shedding the blood of the innocent, and that if he had ten thousand lives, he would lay them all down, if called to it, in defence of his injured, bleeding Country."

"He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good Officer, to obey any orders given him by his Commander-in-Chief; and desired the Spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear."

"I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country demand a peculiar service, its claim to perform that service are imperious."