Political Quotes

On the record
For the fulfillment of those duties governments are invested with power, and to the attainment of the end--the progressive improvement of the condition of the governed--the exercise of delegated powers is a duty as sacred and indispensable as the usurpation of powers not granted is criminal and odious.
Said by
John Quincy Adams
Democratic Republican · Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Adams emphasizes the sacred duty of governments to improve the condition of the governed while avoiding usurpation of power.

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Mar 14, 1826

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