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Spirit of ‘76
Benjamin Franklin, 1787
“The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater the need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans, and…troopsthat are to suppress all resistance, and enable him to plunder at pleasure. Thereis scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh – get first all the people’s money, then all their lands; and then makethem, and their children, servants forever.”
Benjamin Franklin, 1787
“Reasons will never be wanting…and there will always be a party for giving moreto the rulers, that the rulers may be able, in return, to give more to them. Hence,as all history informs us, there has been in every state and kingdom a constantkind of warfare between the governing and the governed; the one striving toobtain more for its support, the other to pay less…this alone occasioned greatconvulsions and actual civil wars, ending either in dethroning of the princes or enslaving of the people. Generally, indeed, the ruling power carries its point…wesee that they are never satisfied, but always in want of more.”
John Adams, Works,
“…It seems very manifest from the Stamp Act itself that a design is formedto….introduce the inequalities and dependencies of the feudal system, by takingfrom the poorer sort of people all their little sustenance, and conferring it onstamp officers, distributors, and their deputies.”
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
“As to government matters,…the business of it will soon be too weighty andintricate to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience by a power sodistant from us, and so very ignorant of us; …waiting four or five months for ananswer, which, when obtained, requires five or six more to explain it in, will in afew years be looked upon as folly and childishness – there was a time when itwas proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease.”
Benjamin Franklin, 1787
“…There is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government….They hadrather have one tyrant than 500….I am apprehensive, therefore – perhaps tooapprehensive – that the government of these States may, in future times, end ina monarchy.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1800
“Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government.Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents,must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and overlook allthe details necessary for the good government of the citizens…renderingdetection impossible…will invite the public agents to corruption, plunder, andwaste.”
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
“Civil government alone…is not productive of pretenses for many taxes; itoperates at home, directly under the eye of the country, and precludes thepossibility of much imposition. But when the scene is…enlarged, the country,being no longer a judge, is open to every imposition which governments pleaseto act.”
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
“…Governments being yet in an uncivilized state and almost continuously at war,…pervert the abundance which civilized life produces….It draws…from the poor,a great portion of those earnings which should be applied to their ownsubsistence and comfort.”
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
“Apart from all reflections of morality and philosophy, it is a melancholy fact thatmore than one-fourth of the labor of mankind is annually consumed by thisbarbarous system….It affords to them pretenses for power and revenue, for which there would be either occasion or apology if the circle of civilization wererendered complete.”
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
“Not a thirtieth, scarcely a fortieth, part of the taxes which are raised in Englandare either occasioned by, or applied to the purposes of civil government. It is notdifficult to see, that the whole which the actual government does in this respect,is to enact laws…at its own expense, by means of magistrates, juries, sessions,and assize, over and above the taxes which it pays.”
Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
“In this view of the case, we have two distinct characters of government; the one,the civil government…which operates at home; the other, the court or cabinetgovernment, which operates abroad….the one attended with little charge, theother with boundless extravagance; and so distinct are the two, that if the latter
were to sink, as it were, by a sudden opening of the earth, and totally disappear,the former would not be deranged. It would still proceed, because it is in thecommon interest of the nation….”
Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, 1787
“…In the government of Britain the representatives of the people compose onebranch of the national legislature. Commerce has been for ages the predominantpursuit of that country. Few nations, nevertheless, have been more frequentlyengaged in war…The provinces of Holland, till they were overwhelmed in debtsand taxes took a leading and conspicuous part in the wars of Europe. They hadfurious contests with England for the dominion of the sea….The wars of thesetwo last-mentioned nations have in a great measure grown out of commercialconsiderations – the desire of supplanting and the fear of being supplanted,either in particular branches of traffic or in the general advantages of trade andnavigation.”
Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, 1797
“The state of civilization that has prevailed throughout Europe is as unjust in itsprinciple as it is horrid in its effects, and it is the consciousness of this, and theapprehension that such a state cannot continue when once investigation beginsin any country, that makes the possessors’ of property avoid every idea of arevolution. It is the hazard and not the principle of revolutions that retards their progress. This being the case, it is necessary…for the protection of property, asfor the sake of justice and humanity, to form a system that while it preserves thepart of society from wretchedness, shall secure the other from depredation…Toremove the danger, it is necessary to remove the antipathies, and this can onlybe done by making property productive of a national blessing, extending to everyindividual. When the riches of one man above another shall increase thenational fund in the same proportion; when it shall be seen that the prosperity of that fund depends on the prosperity of individuals; when the more riches a manacquires, the better it shall be for the general mass; it is then that the antipathieswill cease and property be placed on the permanent basis of national interest andproperty be placed on the permanent basis of national interest and protection.
Jonathon Boucher, 1775
“There never was a time when a whole people were so little governed by settledgood principles confined to manners which relate to government. By a naturalgradation in error, it pervades the whole compass of our conduct. Wise andobserving persons wee with sorrow that it has gained a footing in, and materiallyinjured, every department of society. Parents complain, and not without reason,that children are no longer so respectful and dutiful as they ought to be, and asthey used to be; whilst children might, with not less reason, object to their parentsstill more culpable instances of a failure of duty. Both employers and the
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