Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force...Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.
George WashingtonPromote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.
George WashingtonThey will avoid ... those Overgrown Military establishements which ... are ... particularly hostile to Republican liberty.
George WashingtonThe inducements of interest for observing [neutral] conduct . . . has been to endeavour to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption, to that degree of strength and consistency, which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.
George Washington