“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep

alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their

errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once
they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I,
and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become
wolves.”

~Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787

“If a nation expects to be ignorant – and free – in a state
of civilization, it expects what never was and never will
be.”

~Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816

“On every question of construction carry ourselves back
to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect
the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying
what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or
invented against it, conform to the probable one in which
it was passed.”

~Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823

“Your love of liberty – your respect for the laws – your
habits of industry – and your practice of the moral and
religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national
and individual happiness.”

~George Washington, letter to the residents of Boston, October 27, 1789

“A popular government without popular information
or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or
a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever
govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their
own Governors, must arm themselves with the power
which knowledge gives.”

~James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822

"Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there
are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the
people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in
power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

~James Madison, Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution,

June 6, 1788
"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the
destiny of the republican model of government, are justly
considered deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the
experiment entrusted to the hands of the American
people."

~George Washington, First Inaugural Address, 1789