George Washington on National Debt

“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.”

— George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

John Adams on Government

“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”

— John Adams, Notes for an Oration at Braintree (1772)

Thomas Jefferson on History

“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.”

— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Norvell, 14 June 1807

Thomas Jefferson on Past and Future

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, 1 August 1816

George Washington on Honesty

“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy.”

— George Washington, Farewell Address, 19 September 1796

John Jay on Government

“Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government; and it is equally undeniable that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights, in order to vest it with requisite powers.”

— John Jay, The Federalist, No. 2

Alexander Hamilton on Conversion

“For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.”

— Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, No. 1

John Jay on Security

“Among the many objects to which a wise and free people find it necessary to direct their attention, that of providing for their safety seems to be the first.”

— John Jay, The Federalist, No. 3

Donald Miller on Checks & Balances

“It is hard for us to admit we have a sin nature because we live in this system of checks and balances. If we get caught, we will be punished. But that doesn’t make us good people; it only makes us subdued. Just think about the Congress and Senate and even the president. The genius of the American system is not freedom; the genius of the American system is checks and balances. Nobody gets all the power. Everybody is watching everybody else. It is as if the founding fathers knew, intrinsically, that the soul of man, unwatched, is perverse.”

— Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, chapter 2

Alexander Hamilton on Government

“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.”

— Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, No. 11