"We are teaching the world the great truth that Governments do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion Flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government."
Labels: James Madison
posted by God Almighty Himself at 9:20 PM
Consider the post-1989 revolutions that ended Communist control of Eastern Europe. Looking back on these events, Adam Michnik, the Polish journalist and Solidarity leader, posed the question of which revolution has been a greater inspiration for modern Europeans — the French Revolution or the American Revolution. His answer is unequivocal.
"The American Revolution," says Michnik, "appears to embody simply an idea of freedom without utopia. Following Thomas Paine, it is based on the natural right of the people to determine their own fate. It consciously relinquishes the notion of a perfect, conflict-free society in favor of one based on equal opportunity, equality before the law, religious freedom, and the rule of law."
Read Rights of the People: Individual Freedom and the Bill of Rights at International Information Programs: usinfo.state.gov
Thomas Paine : Collected Writings : Common Sense / The Crisis / Rights of Man / The Age of Reason / Pamphlets, Articles, and Letters (Library of America) |
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968, p. 420
3 Comments:
What are we to think of an individual (Thomas Jefferson)who was willing to sleep with slaves but unwilling to extend human rights to them? Just wonderin...
What are we to think of an individual (357martini) who posts a comment about Thomas Jefferson under the heading of a Blog entry about James Madison? Just wonderin...
Thomas Jefferson did not sleep with his slave. . .at least, there is no evidence of it. The DNA evidence indicated some member of the family did, but Jefferson was in Paris at the time and, according to new research, the evidence points to a nephew that liked to visit his home with his violin and party with the slaves into the evening.
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