Posted on 04/28/2010 5:18:13 AM PDT by Loud Mime
The excerpt:
For no People will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when Knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own Weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
The Full Letter:
18
Epilogue: Securing the Republic
CHAPTER 18 | Document 6
Samuel Adams to James Warren
4 Nov. 1775Writings 3:235--37
Let me talk with you a little about the Affairs of our own Colony. I perswade my self, my dear Friend, that the greatest Care and Circumspection will be used to conduct its internal Police with Wisdom and Integrity. The Eyes of Mankind will be upon you to see whether the Government, which is now more popular than it has been for many years past, will be productive of more Virtue moral and political. We may look up to Armies for our Defence, but Virtue is our best Security. It is not possible that any State shd long remain free, where Virtue is not supremely honord. This is as seasonably as it is justly said by one of the most celebrated Writers of the present time. Perhaps the Form of Governmt now adopted & set up in the Colony may be permanent. Should it be only temporary the golden opportunity of recovering the Virtue & reforming the Manners of our Country should be industriously improvd. Our Ancestors in the most early Times laid an excellent Foundation for the security of Liberty by setting up in a few years after their Arrival a publick Seminary of Learning; and by their Laws they obligd every Town consisting of a certain Number of Families to keep and maintain a Grammar School. I shall be very sorry, if it be true as I have been informd, that some of our Towns have dismissd their Schoolmasters, alledging that the extraordinary Expence of defending the Country renders them unable to support them. I hope this Inattention to the Principles of our Forefathers does not prevail. If there should be any Danger of it, would not the leading Gentlemen do eminent Service to the Publick, by impressing upon the Minds of the People, the Necessity & Importance of encouraging that System of Education, which in my opinion is so well calculated to diffuse among the Individuals of the Community the Principles of Morality, so essentially necessary to the Preservation of publick Liberty.
There are Virtues & vices which are properly called political. "Corruption, Dishonesty to ones Country Luxury and Extravagance tend to the Ruin of States." The opposite Virtues tend to their Establishment. But "there is a Connection between Vices as well as Virtues and one opens the Door for the Entrance of another." Therefore "Wise and able Politicians will guard against other Vices," and be attentive to promote every Virtue. He who is void of virtuous Attachments in private Life, is, or very soon will be void of all Regard for his Country. There is seldom an Instance of a Man guilty of betraying his Country, who had not before lost the Feeling of moral Obligations in his private Connections. Before [Dr. Benjamin Church, Jr.] was detected of holding a criminal Correspondence with the Enemies of his Country, his Infidelity to his Wife had been notorious. Since private and publick Vices, are in Reality, though not always apparently, so nearly connected, of how much Importance, how necessary is it, that the utmost Pains be taken by the Publick, to have the Principles of Virtue early inculcated on the Minds even of Children, and the moral Sense kept alive, and that the wise Institutions of our Ancestors for these great Purposes be encouragd by the Government. For no People will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when Knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own Weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
The Founders' Constitution
Volume 1, Chapter 18, Document 6
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s6.html
The University of Chicago Press
The Writings of Samuel Adams. Edited by Harry Alonzo Cushing.
4 vols. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904--8.
“The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
Samuel Adams
Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.
Samuel Adams
John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776
Sam Adams and John Witherspoon were and are exactly correct! Where do you suppose we are today?
That's exactly right! The founders abhorred the very thought of a democracy but Karl Marx and Frederick Engles absolutely LOVED the idea!
Ohhh...great quote. Thanks for the tip!
“Adams argues that public schools are the best means of promoting virtue? Clearly, the schools are promoting their concept of virtue. How’s that working out for us?”
Samual Adams had it right. So what happened along the way?
The founders of the United States believed that useful education — that which produced liberty – must have its foundation in Christianity.
Education in colonial America was primarily centered in the home and church, with the Bible being the focal point of all education. Schools were started to provide a Christian education to those who were not able to receive such training at home and to supplement home education. The first schools were started by the church.
Colleges and universities were started as seminaries to train a godly and literate clergy. In fact, 106 of the first 108 colleges were founded on the Christian faith.
The father of the American Revolution, Samuel Adams, declared that education in the principles of the Christian religion is the means of renovating our age. He wrote in a letter on October 4, 1790, to John Adams, then vice president of the United States:
“Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country; of instructing them in the art of self-government, without which they never can act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small; in short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.”
if shcools are the best means of promoting anything, they can promote the loss of virtue as well.
What was it that Stalin or Lenin said about the powers of controlling schools?
But the Federalist Papers have many references to Democracy, all bad.
The founders also believed that the Federal government should have nothing to do with Education.
BFL
I’d missed that - and it is spot on. Thanks for posting it.
Current Occupant of White House - COWH. I always call him the cow because I’ll be damned if I’m going to call him the President.
It’s so hard to pick a favorite quote from that orator.
Thanks for the Ping.
I am simply amazed at the wisdom of these men.
Thanks for posting this. ‘Pod.
Oh wait, wrong thread...
Black Lager?
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