From David McCullough’s John Adams
John Adams: Spring 1772
Government is nothing more than the combined force of society, or the united power of the multitude, for the peace, order, safety, good, and happiness of the people … There is no king or queen bee distinguished from all others, by size or figure of beauty and variety of colors, in the human hive. No man has yet produced any revelation from heaven in his favour, any divine communication to govern his fellow men. Nature throws us al into the world equal and alike … (source)
The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved …
(source)
Ambition is one of the more ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable…
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. (source)
Better that many guilty persons escape unpunished than one innocent person should be punished. “The reason is, because it’s of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished.” (pg 68) -Quoted from The Legal Papers of John Adams, Vol III, 242