“Sensible of the importance of Christian piety and virtue to the order and happiness of a state, I cannot but earnestly commend to you every measure for their support and encouragement ... Manners, by which not only the freedom, but the very existence of the republics, are greatly affected, depend much upon the public institutions of religion and the good education of youth; in both these instances our fathers laid wise foundations, for which their posterity have had reason to bless their memory.” StatesReasonChristianOrderFatherMemoriesExistenceSupportVirtueWiseYouthDependsImportanceEncouragementInstitutionsFoundationInstanceMannersAffectedBlessRepublicSensiblePosterityOur FatherPietyGood EducationSupport And Encouragement Author:John Hancock
“What were once felt to be defects-isolation, institutional simplicity, primitiveness of manners, multiplicity of religions, weaknesses in the authority of the state-could now be seen as virtues, not only by Americans themselves but by enlightened spokesmen of reform, renewal and hope wherever they may be-in London coffeehouses, in Parisian salons, in the courts of German princes.” MayStatesFeltVirtueAuthorityWeaknessCourtSimplicityLondonReformMannersIsolationEnlightenedDefectsRenewalMultiplicitySalons Book:The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution Source: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution