“The political system of the United States is essentially extra-European. To stand in firm and cautious independence of all entanglement in the European system has been a cardinal point of their policy under every administration of their government from the peace of 1783 to this day...Every year's experience rivets it more deeply in the principles and opinions of the nation.” YearsHas BeensStatesGovernmentPoliticalNationsUnitedOpinionPrinciplesUnited StatesPolicyIndependenceJewAdministrationFirmExtrasThis DayCautiousPolitical SystemsCardinalsEntanglement Book:Writings of John Quincey Adams Source: Writings of John Quincey Adams
“It is essential..that you should form and adopt certain rules or principles, for the government of your own conduct and temper. Unless you have such rules and principles, there will be numberless occasions on which you will have no guide for your government but your passions..It is in the Bible, you must learn them, and from the Bible how to practice them.” ShouldGovernmentFormCertainPassionPrinciplesPracticeEssentialsBibleGuidesOccasionsTemper Author:John Quincy Adams
“The conflict between the principle of liberty and the fact of slavery is coming gradually to an issue. Slavery has now the power, and falls into convulsions at the approach of freedom. That the fall of slavery is predetermined in the counsels of Omnipotence I cannot doubt; it is a part of the great moral improvement in the condition of man, attested by all the records of history. But the conflict will be terrible, and the progress of improvement perhaps retrograde before its final progress to consummation.” MenFactsFallLibertyMoralPrinciplesIssuesDoubtRecordsProgressConditionsTerribleConflictApproachSlaveryFinalsImprovementOmnipotencePredeterminedRetrograde Book:Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848 Source: Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848
“There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the nation who have heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that of discarding every remnant of rancor against each other, of embracing as countrymen and friends, and of yielding to talents and virtue alone that confidence which in times of contention for principle was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge of party communion.” MadeStillsPoliticalPassionIndividualNationsPartyEffortPrinciplesVirtueSacrificeTalentStandardsPrejudiceRemainsBoresCommunionPolitical PartiesContentionBadgesCountrymenRemnantsMagnanimityRancor Author:John Quincy Adams
“Slavery is the great and foul stain upon the North American Union. A dissolution, at least temporary, of the Union, as now constituted, would now be certainly necessary. The Union might then be reorganized on the fundamental principle of emancipation.” MightPrinciplesFundamentalsSlaveryUnionsTemporaryFoulStainsEmancipationDissolutionFundamental Principles Author:John Quincy Adams
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” MayGovernmentPoliticalPoliticsLostPrinciplesReflectionVoteElectionAgingPresidentialVotingPatrioticCherishReflectingSweetestRight To VotePresidential ElectionElection DayPolitical WillUs PresidentElections And VotingUs PresidentialInspirational PresidentialLesser Of Two EvilsWorld PoliticsFuture Of AmericaInspirational VotingVoting Day Author:John Quincy Adams
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” GodGovernmentReligionReligiousChristianityPrinciplesRevolutionHighestGloryBibleIndependentConnectedFoundersGodlyOur Founding FathersUs HistoryAmerican RevolutionDeclaration Of IndependenceFounding Fathers ChristianUs Founding FathersFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaAmerican Founding FathersChristianity From Founding FathersChristian FatherChristian HeritageRevolution Founding FathersChristian PatrioticOne Nation Under GodGod And CountryRevival In AmericaChristianity And Government Author:John Quincy Adams
“The inconsistency of the institution of domestic slavery with the principles of the Declaration of Independence was seen and lamented . . . no insincerity or hypocrisy can be fairly laid to their charge. Never from their lips was heard one syllable of attempt to justify the institution of slavery. They universally considered it as a reproach fastened upon them by the unnatural step-mother country and they saw that before the principles of the Declaration of Independence slavery, in common with every other mode of oppression, was destined sooner or later to be banished from the earth.” CountryEarthMotherCommonStepsPrinciplesSawsHeardIndependenceInstitutionsSlaveryLipsOppressionHypocrisyJustifySooner Or LaterDeclarationDestinedUnnaturalDeclaration Of IndependenceReproachSyllablesInconsistencyInsincerityMother CountryStep Mother Author:John Quincy Adams
“Let us not be unmindful that liberty is power, that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth. Our Constitution professedly rests upon the good sense and attachment of the people. This basis, weak as it may appear, has not yet been found to fail. Always vote for a principle, though you vote alone, and you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost. America, in the assembly of nations, has uniformly spoken among them the language of equal liberty, equal justice, and equal rights.” PeopleMayEarthAmericaFoundLostLanguageNationsJusticePowerfulNumbersLibertyPrinciplesRightsFailingSweetEqualLosingReflectionWeakVoteBasesConstitutionBlessedProportionMost PowerfulAttachmentCherishPortionsEqual RightsAssemblyGood SenseEqual Justice Author:John Quincy Adams
“This mode of electioneering suited neither my taste nor my principles. I thought it equally unsuitable to my personal character and to the station in which I am placed.” CharacterPrinciplesTastePresidentialStationsPersonal Character Author:John Quincy Adams
“Whenever vanity and gaiety, a love of pomp and dress, furniture, equipage, buildings, great company, expensive diversions, and elegant entertainments get the better of the principles and judgments of men and women, there is no knowing where they will stop, nor into what evils, natural, moral, or political, they will lead us.” MenPoliticalEvilNaturalCompanyMoralPrinciplesKnowingBuildingJudgmentMen And WomenDressesEntertainmentVanityExpensiveElegantFurnitureDiversionGreat CompanyGaiety Author:John Quincy Adams
“The conflict between the principle of liberty and the fact of slavery is coming gradually to an issue. Slavery has now the power, and falls into convulsions at the approach of freedom.” FactsFallLibertyPrinciplesIssuesConflictApproachSlavery Book:John Quincy Adams: Diaries 1821-1848 Source: John Quincy Adams: Diaries 1821-1848
