Human passions unbridled by morality and religion...would break the stronges cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.
John AdamsNo good government but what is republican... the very definition of a republic is 'an empire of laws, and not of men.'
John AdamsWe should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for honors and power we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society.
John AdamsThe consequences of these institutions (The towns or districts, the congregations, the schools,and the militia.) have been, that the inhabitants, having acquired from their infancy the habit of discussing, of deliberating, and of judging of public affairs, it was in these assemblies of towns or districts that the sentiments of the people were formed in the first place, and their resolutions were taken from the beginning to the end of the disputes and the war with Great Britain.
John Adams