"A navy is essentially and necessarily aristocratic. True as may be the political principles for which we are now contending they can never be practically applied or even admitted on board ship, out of port, or off soundings. This may seem a hardship, but it is nevertheless the simplest of truths. Whilst the ships sent forth by the Congress may and must fight for the principles of human rights and republican freedom, the ships themselves must be ruled and commanded at sea under a system of absolute despotism."
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Military leaders from the United StatesUnited States Navy peopleSailorsDiplomats of the United StatesMilitary leaders from Scotland
Original Language: English
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Letter to the Naval Committee of Congress (14 September 1775)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones
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John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (6 July 1747 – 18 July 1792) was a Scottish American sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made many friends and enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day. As such, he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the American Navy" (an epithet he shares with John Barry). He later served in the Imp
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