Historical voices

It will serve to show how dismal the situation of a conquered people is, and that the only security is an effectual defence.

We form one common floor of public good, and, whatever is our charge, it is paid for our own interest and upon our own account.

We are a people, who, in our situation, differ from all the world.

Perhaps one of the greatest dangers which any country can be exposed to, arises from a kind of trifling which sometimes steals upon the mind, when it supposes the danger past; and this unsafe situation marks at this time the peculiar…

Then every expense was cheap, compared with the dread of conquest and the misery of submission.

What are the little sufferings of the present day, compared with the hardships that are past?

The remembrance of those things ought to inspire us with confidence and greatness of mind, and carry us through every remaining difficulty with content and cheerfulness.

Either the injustice of Britain is too glaring, or her condition too desperate, or both, for any neighboring power to come to her support.

If our enemies can draw consolation from misfortune, and exert themselves upon despair, how much more ought we, who are to win a continent by the conquest, and have already an earnest of success?

The least remissness in preparation, the least relaxation in execution, will only serve to prolong the war, and increase expenses.

But let not America wrap herself up in delusive hope and suppose the business done.

Untainted with ambition, and a stranger to revenge, her progress has been marked by providence, and she, in every stage of the conflict, has blest her with success.

Her love of liberty; her ardour in supporting it; the justice of her claims, and the constancy of her fortitude have won her the esteem of Europe, and attached to her interest the first power in that country.

There is something in the cause and consequence of America that has drawn on her the attention of all mankind.

Too great to yield, and too noble to insult; superior to misfortune, and generous in success, let us untaintedly preserve the character which we have gained, and show to future ages an example of unequalled magnanimity.

Our lot is cast; and America, the child of fate, is arriving at maturity.

Like Pharaoh on the edge of the Red Sea, he sees not the plunge he is making, and precipitately drives across the flood that is closing over his head.

It is strange that a nation must run through such a labyrinth of trouble, and expend such a mass of wealth to gain the wisdom which an hour's reflection might have taught.

She has risen into greatness without the knowledge and against the will of England, and has a right to the unmolested enjoyment of her own created wealth.

Let Britain but leave America to herself and she asks no more.

Ask the man, who, with his axe, has cleared a way in the wilderness, and now possesses an estate, what made him rich, and he will tell you the labor of his hands, the sweat of his brow, and the blessing of heaven.

The former tyranny of England served to people it, and the virtue of the adventurers to improve it.

It was the unremitted industry of the settlers and their descendants, the hard labor and toil of persevering fortitude, that were the true causes of the prosperity of America.

We feel something like respect for consistency even in error.