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George Mason: `No method of procedure has ever been devised by
which liberty
could be divorced from local self-government. No plan of centralization
has
ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility,
reaction and decline.'
Patrick Henry:
"you ought to be extremely
cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty;
for instead of securing
your rights, you may lose them forever." ......
"You are not to inquire how
your trade may be increased, nor how you are to
become a great
and powerful people, but how your liberties can be secured; for
liberty ought
to be the direct end of your government."
"Will the abandonment of
your most sacred rights tend to security of your
liberty? Liberty,
the greatest of all earthly blessings--give us that precious
jewel, and you may
take everything else."
"suspicion is a virtue as
long as it's object is the preservation of the
public good, and as
long as it stays within proper bounds: ..."
"Guard with jealous attention
the public liberty. Suspect every one who
approaches that jewel.
Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright
force. Whenever you
give up that force, you are inevitably ruined."
"I am not well versed in
history; but I will submit to your recollection,
whether liberty has
been destroyed by the licentiousness of the people, or by
the tyranny of the
rulers. I imagine sir, you will find the balance on the side
of Tyranny. Happy
will you be, if you miss the fate of those nations, who
omitting to resist
their oppressors, or negligently suffering their liberty to
be wrested from them,
have groaned under intolerable despotism."
"Will the oppressor
let go the oppressed? Was there ever an instance? Can
the annals
of mankind exhibit one single example, where rulers, overcharged
with power,
willingly let go the oppressed, though solicited and requested most
earnestly?"
"The most valuable end of government
is the liberty of the inhabitants. No
possible advantages
can compensate for the loss of this right."
"Show me that age and country
where the rights and liberties of the people
were placed on the
sole chance of their rulers being good men, without the
consequent loss of
liberty. I say that the loss of that dearest privelege has
ever followed, with
absolute certainty, every such mad attempt."
"where and when did freedom
exist, when the sword and purse were given up
by the people? Unless
a miracle in human affairs interposed, no nation ever
retained its liberty
after the loss of the sword and purse. ..."
"The great and direct
end of government is liberty. Secure our liberty and
priveleges,
and the end of government is answered."