my law flashcards

Question 1

“ignorance of the laws of the land hath ever been esteemed dishonourable in those who are intrusted by their country to maintain, to administer, and to amend them.”

Answer 1

Sir William Blackstone he refers to god as the creator

Question 2

“Politics…[is] one of the most important and possibly the most noble of the human undertakings: the processes concerned with the authoritative determination of a society’s goals and ideals; mobilization of its resources to achieve those goals and ideals; and distribution of rights, duties, costs, benefits, rewards, and punishments among members of that society.”

Answer 2

Walter murphy

Question 3

“by their human nature most men and women can reason objectively about what is morally good or bad for themselves and others [and thus implement NL

Answer 3

Sir William Blackstone

Question 4

“Where the law is overruled or obsolete, I see destruction hanging over the community; where it is sovereign over the authorities and they it’s humble servants, I discern the presence of salvation and every blessing Heaven sends on a society.”

Answer 4

plato

Question 5

“It was in juristic reasoning that natural law concepts were extensively used, for the authority of the opinions of the jurists in their responses depended upon the reasonableness of their comments

Answer 5

Aristotle

Question 6

“True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of
universal application, unchanging and everlasting;…We
cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or
people,… [T]here will not be different laws at Rome and
at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but
one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all
nations and all times, and there will be one master and
ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this
law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is
disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his
human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will
suffer the worst penalties, even if he escapes what is
commonly considered punishment.”

Answer 6

CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS

Question 7

“…[L]aw does not prescribe every act of every virtue, but only those which are ordained to the common good….”

Answer 7

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Question 8

Thus, when the Supreme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of nothing, he impressed certain principles upon that matter, from which it can never depart, and without which it would cease to be. …”

Answer 8

Sir William Blackstone

Question 9

“Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. … And … conform to his Maker’s will.”

Answer 9

Sir William Blackstone

Question 10

God created matter with rules for perpetual direction, and endued man “with free-will to conduct himself in all parts of life,” & “laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that free-will is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purport of those laws

Answer 10

Sir William Blackstone

Question 11

Where the two parties must go to a third who is an officer, it is as evident to them as to the observer that they are no longer going to a disinterested third. Instead they are introducing a third interest: that of the government, the church, the landowner, or whoever else appoints the official.”

Answer 11

Martin Shapiro

Question 12

“Law is perfect reason, which commands those things that are proper and necessary and which prohibits contrary things.” Unlike John Austin (who comes later), Coke stresses reason more than authority to allow the CL to correct unreasonable statutes, customs, & Royal Prerogative.

Answer 12

Sir Edward Coke

Question 13

’Procure reverence to king and the law.’” “A popular judge is a deformed thing.”
“Power is ever of greatest strength when it is civilly carried.”
“Do good to the people, love them and give them justice; but let it be as the Psalm sayeth…looking for nothing, neither praise nor profit.”

Answer 13

Francis Bacon

Question 14

“That law can never be against reason, our lawyers are agreed: and that not the letter…but…the intention of the legislator, is the law.

Answer 14

) Thomas Hobbes,

Question 15

The Americans have … three distinguishing characteristics of the judicial power: … [1] pronounce a decision only when litigation has arisen, he is [2] conversant only with special cases, and he [3] cannot act until the cause has been duly brought before the court. His position is therefore exactly the same as that of the magistrates of other nations, and yet he is invested with immense political power

Answer 15

Alexis de Tocqueville

Question 16

“…the freedom which equality before the law had created was progressively destroyed as demands for another kind of equality arose. During the later empire the strict law was weakened [by]… a new social policy, the state increased its control over economic life.”

Answer 16

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Question 17

“Thereafter, for a thousand years, the conception that legislation should serve to protect the freedom of the individual was lost. And when the art of legislation was rediscovered, it was the code of Justinian with its conception of a prince who stood above the law that served as the model on the Continent

Answer 17

hayek

Question 18

During the middle ages the state could not ‘itself create or make law, and of course as little abolish or violate law, because this would mean to abolish justice itself, it would be absurd, a sin, a rebellion against God who alone creates law.’ For centuries it was recognized doctrine that kings or any other human authority could only declare or find the existing law, or modify abuses that had crept in, and not create law

Answer 18

hayek

Question 19

“even if we confine our observation to the existing condition of Europe, we shall soon be convinced that the ‘rule of law’… is peculiar to England, or to those countries which…have inherited English traditions. In almost every continental community the executive exercises far wider discretionary authority in the matter of arrest, of temporary imprisonment, of expulsion from its territory, and the like, than…in England; and a study of European politics now and again reminds English readers that wherever there is discretion there is room for arbitrariness, and that in a republic no less than under a monarchy discretionary authority on the part of the government must mean insecurity for legal freedom on the part of its subjects” ).

Answer 19

dicey

Question 20

“… an act in law shall worke no wrong.
“… no man shall take advantage of his owne wrong.
“The reason of the law is the life of the law;
Agreement “cannot make that good which the law maketh void.”
“The common law has no controller…but the high court of parliament; and if it be not abrogated or altered by parliament, it remains still.”
The CL “appeareth in…Magna Charta and other statutes (which for the most part are affirmations of the common law) in the original writs, in judiciall records, and in our bookes of termes and yeares.
“three things be favoured in law; life, liberty, and dower.”

Answer 20

Sir Edward Coke (

Question 21

“Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.”

Answer 21

Francis Bacon

Question 22

“…one of the key elements of whig constitutionalism was that the Crown’s authority was limited by the ancient constitution, which was defined by custom and had existed, as Coke put it, from ‘time out of mind as man.’”

Answer 22

Jason S. Crye, Roger Williams

Question 23

“There being nothing more essential to the freedom of a state, than that the people should be governed by the laws, and that justice be administered by such only as are accountable for mal-administration, it is hereby further declared that all proceedings touching the lives, liberties and estates of all the free people of this commonwealth, shall be according to the laws of the land, and that the Parliament will not meddle with ordinary administration, or the executive part of the law: it being the principle [sic] part of this, as it hath been of all former Parliaments, to provide for the freedom of the people against arbitrariness in government.

Answer 23

hayek

Question 24

The end of the law is, not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others; which cannot be where there is no law: and is not, as we are told, a liberty for every man to do what he lists. (For who could be free when every other man’s humour might domineer over him?) But a liberty to dispose, and order as he lists, his person, actions, possessions, and his whole property, within the allowance of those laws under which he is, and therein not to be the subject of the arbitrary will of another, but freely follow his own.” – John Locke, Second Treatise, Section 57, .

Answer 24

locke

Question 25

“Coercion implies both the threat of inflicting harm and the intention thereby to bring about certain conduct”

Answer 25

hayek

Question 26

Yet, it is “possible long study may increase and confirm erroneous sentences:…the more they build, the greater is the ruin:…therefore it is not that …wisdom of subordinate judges, but the reason of this our artificial man…. In all courts of justice, the sovereign…is he that judgeth: the subordinate judge ought to have regard to the reason which moved his sovereign to make such law, that his sentence may be according thereunto, which then is his sovereigns sentence; otherwise it is his own, and an unjust one

Answer 26

Hobbes orLeviathan

Question 27

“The Americans have … three distinguishing characteristics of the judicial power: … [1] pronounce a decision only when litigation has arisen, he is [2] conversant only with special cases, and he [3] cannot act until the cause has been duly brought before the court. His position is therefore exactly the same as that of the magistrates of other nations, and yet he is invested with immense political power.”

Answer 27

Alexis de Tocqueville

Question 28

… Americans have acknowledged the right of judges to found their decisions on the Constitution rather than on the laws. In other words, they have permitted them not to apply such laws as may appear to them to be unconstitutional

Answer 28

Alexis de Tocqueville

Question 29

“In the United States the Constitution … cannot be modified by a law; and it is therefore just that the tribunals should obey the Constitution in preference to any law. This condition belongs to the very essence of the judicature; for to select that legal obligation by which he is most strictly bound is in some sort the natural right of every magistrate

Answer 29

Alexis de Tocqueville

Question 30

“…adversarial legalism is a product of American legal culture. In most other nations, legal elites place great emphasis on legal consistency and stability. Law is viewed as a set of authoritative rules and principles, carefully worked out over time.”

In the U.S. “the law is more often viewed as the malleable (and fallible) output of an ongoing political battle to make the law responsive to particular interests and values.”

“Many, perhaps most, America lawyers, judges, legal scholars, and politicians (many of whom are lawyers) see adversarial litigation as a vital tool for righting wrongs, curtailing governmental and corporate arbitrariness, and achieving a just society.”

“The deeper roots of adversarial legalism…derive from broader American political traditions, attitudes, structural arrangements, and interest group pressures.”

Answer 30

Bob Kagan

Question 31

We don’t sit here to make the law, to decide who ought to win. We decide who wins under the law that the people have adopted. And very often, if you are a good judge, you don’t really like the result you’re reaching. You would rather the other side had won; it seems to you a foolish law. … Because it’s not your job to decide what is foolish or not, it’s the job of the people across the street [Congress].”

Answer 31

Justice Antonin Scalia

Question 32

Tyranny of all kinds is to be abhor’d, whether it be in the hands of one, or of the few, or of the many.”
yet ‘slavery is so vile and miserable an estate of man, and so directly opposite to the generous temper and courage of our nation, that ‘tis hard to be conceived that an englishman, much less a gentleman, should plead for it.’ Especially at a time when the finest writers of the most polite nations on the continent of Europe, are enraptured with the beauties of the civil constitution of Great-Britain; and envy her, no less for the freedom of her sons, than for her immense wealth and military glory.

Answer 32

James Otis

Question 33

The end of government being the good of mankind, points out its great duties: It is above all things to provide for the security, the quiet, and happy enjoyment of life, liberty, and property.

There is no one act which a government can have a right to make, that does not tend to the advancement of the security, tranquility and prosperity of the people. If life, liberty and property could be enjoyed in as great perfection in solitude, as in society, there would be no need of government.”

Answer 33

James otis

Question 34

If quiet - “I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.”

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.” [Colonists had endured 10 years of abuses].

Answer 34

Patrick Henry

Question 35

The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible ….

Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, …it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

….Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! …Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? …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

Answer 35

Patrick Henry

Question 36

Whereas many of our subjects in divers parts of our Colonies and Plantations in North America, …have at length proceeded to open and avowed rebellion, by arraying themselves in a hostile manner, to withstand the execution of the law, and traitorously preparing, ordering and levying war against us: …we have thought fit, … to issue our Royal Proclamation, hereby declaring, that not only all our Officers, civil and military, …[but] all our subjects of this Realm…are bound by law to be aiding and assisting in the suppression of such rebellion, and to disclose and make known all traitorous conspiracies and attempts against us, … in order to bring to condign punishment the authors, perpetrators, and abetters of such traitorous designs

Answer 36

King George III

Question 37

I am sincerely one of those who would rather be in dependence on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any other nation on earth, or than on no nation.

But I am one of those, too, who rather than submit to the rights of legislating for us, assumed by the British Parliament, and which late experience has shown they will so duly exercise, would level my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean.”

Answer 37

Thomas Jefferson,

Question 38

“AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; …its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.”

Answer 38

Alexander Hamilton

Question 39

The real wonder is that so many difficulties should have been surmounted, and surmounted
with a unanimity almost as unprecedented as it must have been unexpected. It is impossible
for any man of candor to reflect on this circumstance without partaking of the astonishment. It
is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty
hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of
the revolution.”

Answer 39

James Madison

Question 40

The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.”

Answer 40

James Madison

Question 41

“The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other State

Answer 41

James Madison

Question 42

“the accumulation of all powers legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” –

Answer 42

James Madison

Question 43

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government…the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. …the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other (JMAD or AH, Fed # 51).

Answer 43

James Madison

Question 44

“The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favoured with an opportunity of deliberating upon, and choosing the forms of government under which they should live. All other constitutions have derived their existence from violence or accidental circumstances, and are therefore probably more distant from their perfection, which, though beyond our reach, may nevertheless be approached under the guidance of reason and experience.”

Answer 44

cj jay

Question 45

“Experience in all the States had evinced a powerful tendency in the Legislature to absorb all power into its vortex. This was the real source of danger to the American Constitutions, and suggested the necessity of giving every defensive authority to the other departments that was consistent with republican principles.”

Answer 45

James Madison

Question 46

My own opinion has always been in favor of a bill of rights; provided that it be so framed as not to imply powers not meant to be included in the enumeration.
“experience proves the inefficiency of a bill of rights…. Repeated violations of these parchment barriers have been committed by overbearing majorities in every State.” Don’t have to have it.
“The political truths declared in that solemn manner acquire by degrees the character of fundamental maxims of free Government…counteract the impulses of interest and passion.
“It is a melancholy reflection that liberty should be equally exposed to danger whether the Government have too much or too little p

Answer 46

James madison

Question 47

a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, & what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.” “Half a loaf is better than no bread. If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can. …

Answer 47

Thomas Jefferson

Question 48

And I take this opportunity to declare that…I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand and villainy on the other as this Writ of Assistance is.”

Answer 48

James otis

Question 49

A certain [1] ordinance of reason for [2] the common good, promulgated by [3] him who has care of the community.”

Answer 49

Thomas aquinas

Question 50

“…[L]aw does not prescribe every act of every virtue, but only those which are ordained to the common good….”

Answer 50

Thomas aquinas

Question 51

Nevertheless, the very act of changing a law damages the common good to some extent, because custom encourages people to observe the law. Even minor changes seem to be major when they involve a breach of custom. Thus when a law is changed its binding force is diminished insofar as custom is abolished.”

Examples when to change:

[1] “some great and evident benefit is derived from the new law, or if [2] some extreme emergency is occasioned by the fact that the existing law is [3] clearly unjust or its [4] observance extremely harmful

But benefit “should be evident before one dispenses with a law that was long considered just.” [What does this tell us about custom

Answer 51

Thomas aquinas

Question 52

“Thus, when the Supreme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of nothing, he impressed certain principles upon that matter, from which it can never depart, and without which it would cease to be. …”

Answer 52

William blackstone

Question 53

Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. … And … conform to his Maker’s will.”

“This will of his Maker is called the law of nature.

God created matter with rules for perpetual direction, and endued man “with free-will to conduct himself in all parts of life,” & “laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that free-will is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purport of those laws.”
Note - we will later discuss Nat. Law in America

Answer 53

Sir William Blackstone

Question 54

The judicial power will operate to effect, in the most certain, but yet silent and imperceptible manner, what is evidently the tendency of the constitution: — I mean, an entire subversion of the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the individual states. Every adjudication of the supreme court, on any question that may arise upon the nature and extent of the general government, will affect the limits of the state jurisdiction. In proportion as the former enlarge the exercise of their powers, will that of the latter be restricted.”

Answer 54

Robert Yates

Question 55

The opinions of the supreme court, whatever they may be, will have the force of law; because there is no power provided in the constitution, that can correct their errors, or controul their adjudications

Answer 55

Robert Yates

Question 56

“it appears to me that the greater part of these powers are unnecessary, and dangerous, as tending to impair, and ultimately destroy, the state judiciaries, and, by the same principle, the legislation of the state governments.”

No limit to the reach of the judiciary: “it goes to every thing.”

Answer 56

George Mason

Question 57

the necessity of making a judiciary an essential part of the government

Answer 57

Edmund Pendleton

Question 58

“The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution. By a limited Constitution, I understand one which contains certain specified exceptions to the legislative authority.” Such as “no bills of attainder, no ex-post-facto laws, and the like. Limitations of this kind can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing.”

Answer 58

Alexander Hamilton

Question 59

“strict rules and precedents, which serve to define and point out their duty in every particular case that comes before them; and it will readily be conceived … that the records of those precedents must unavoidably swell to a very considerable bulk, and must demand long and laborious study to acquire a competent knowledge of them.

Answer 59

Alexander Hamilton

Question 60

few men … will have sufficient skill in the laws to qualify them for the stations of judges. And … the number must be still smaller of those who unite the requisite integrity with the requisite knowledge.”

Answer 60

Alexander Hamilton

Question 61

Temporary appointment would discourage fit “characters from quitting a lucrative line of practice to accept a seat on the bench” and “the administration of justice” would fall to “less able, and less well qualified” who could not “conduct it with utility and dignity.”

Answer 61

Alexander Hamilton

Question 62

To be ‘civil,’ in ordinary usage, means to be polite, respectful, decent. It is a quality implying, in particular, the restraint of anger directed toward others. In this sense, civility is not the same thing as warmth and indeed implies a certain coolness: civility helps to cool the too hot passions of citizenship.

Answer 62

. Charles R. Kesler,

Question 63

You are the judges of the circuits are as it were the planets of the kingdom and no doubt you have a great stroke in the frame of this government

Answer 63

Francis bacon

Question 64

On a account of their learning and experience in the common law charter constitution and commission and fame limit judges

Answer 64

James Wilson

Question 65

A judge – should give “great regard to the sentiments and decisions of those, who have thought and decided before him.” Stare Decisis, Why?
“…Though authority be not permitted to tyrannize as a mistress; may she not be consulted as a skilful guide? May not respect be paid, though a blind assent be refused, to her dictates?
“Society of wise men in judgment is like the society of brave men in battle: each depends not merely on himself: each depends on others also: by this means, strength and courage are diffused over all. …’

Answer 65

James wilson

Question 66

“..[E]very prudent and cautious judge will appreciate them. He will remember, that his duty and his business is, not to make the law, but to interpret and apply it.”

Answer 66

James wilson

Question 67

no privileges, or statutes shall be enacted in favour of private persons, to the injury of others contrary to the law common to all citizens, and which individuals, no matter of what rank, have a right to make use of.”

Answer 67

hayek

Question 68

where “‘the people govern and not the law’ and in which ‘everything is determined by majority vote and not by law.’”

Answer 68

hayek or Aristotle

Question 69

the freedom which equality before the law had created was progressively destroyed as demands for another kind of equality arose. During the later empire the strict law was weakened [by]… a new social policy, the state increased its control over economic life.”

The shift allowed Emperor (executive) to invade personal liberty to enforce “equitable” economics (via new expansive powers)

Answer 69

) Marcus Tullius Cicero

Question 70

“Thereafter, for a thousand years, the conception that legislation should serve to protect the freedom of the individual was lost. And when the art of legislation was rediscovered, it was the code of Justinian with its conception of a prince who stood above the law that served as the model on the Continent

Answer 70

hayek

Question 71

council, Barons & church; women & church rights, property rights, no excessive taxes, all subject to law (Kings, too); Fair trial, “To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.”

Answer 71

Hobbes

Question 72

only the power to coerce, to force other men to serve one’s will by the threat of…harm,” is evil

Answer 72

hayek

Question 73

“The Americans are the sons not the bastards of England

Answer 73

William pitt

Question 74

“Nor was ever any claim of superiority or dependance asserted over them by that mother country from which they had migrated.”

Answer 74

Thomas Jefferson

Question 75

The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.”

Answer 75

Thomas Jefferson

Question 76

“The true ground on which we declare these acts void is that the British parliament has no right to exercise authority over us.”

Answer 76

Thomas Jefferson

Question 77

Government is dissolved. Fleets and armies and the present state of things show that government is dissolved. …We are in a state of nature, sir. …I hope future ages will quote our proceedings with applause. It is one of the great duties of the democratical part of the constitution to keep itself pure. …The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders, are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American.”

Answer 77

mr. Henry

Question 78

We have no legal authority; and obedience to our determinations will only follow the reasonableness, the apparent utility and necessity of the measures we adopt. We have no coercive or legislative authority. …

Answer 78

mr Rutledge

Question 79

I go upon the supposition that government is at an end. All distinctions are thrown down. All America is thrown into one mass.

Answer 79

mr Henry

Question 80

Could I suppose that we came to frame an American constitution, instead of endeavoring to correct the faults in an old one—I can’t yet think that all government is at an end. The measure of arbitrary power is not full, and I think it must run over, before we undertake to frame a new constitution.”
Conservative to moderate Whigs and Radical Whigs

Answer 80

mr jay

Question 81

Rejected that “the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others….”

“The legislature of Great-Britain, however, stimulated by an inordinate passion for a power not only unjustifiable, but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the very constitution of that kingdom…. attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving these colonies by violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms. - Yet, however blinded that assembly may be, by their intemperate rage for unlimited domination, so to sight justice and the opinion of mankind, we esteem ourselves bound by obligations of respect to the rest of the world, to make known the justice of our cause.”

Answer 81

Henry Lexington and concord

Question 82

“– We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great-Britain, and establishing independent states.” But the Ministry offered “no milder conditions than servitude or death.”

“In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it – for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.

With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war.”

Answer 82

Henry- lexicon and concord

Question 83

he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the op-pro-brium [scorn] of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this ex-e-crable commerce;
and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.”
Why this argument?

Answer 83

Thomas Jefferson

Question 84

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, [TJ likely also influenced by George Mason]

— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes….

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

Answer 84

Thomas Jefferson

Question 85

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

Answer 85

Thomas Jefferson

Question 86

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered;

yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but ‘to bind us in all cases whatsoever,’ and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.”

Answer 86

, Phillip Freneau

Thomas Jefferson

Question 87

The time shall come when strangers rule no more,

Nor cruel mandates vex from Britain’s shore.

Answer 87

, Phillip Freneau