Celebrating Independance Day: Quotes from the Founding Fathers

 As we look forward to celebrating Independence Day, I thought I'd share some patriotic quotes from our nation's founders.

"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  John Adams

"Political interest [can] never be separated in the long run from moral right" Thomas Jefferson

"Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are a gift from God?  Thomas Jefferson

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." Patrick Henry

"We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government."  James Madison

"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."  Thomas Jefferson

"A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." Thomas Jefferson


"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" Patrick Henry

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry

 "I never ... believed there was one code of morality for a public and another for a private man." Thomas Jefferson

"There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent an sudden usurpation." James Madison

May you all have a wonderful Independence Day! And may you rejoice in the liberties granted to us first by God and second by our Great Nation. I'll be taking the rest of the week off from blogging, but look forward to seeing you again on Monday.