Adams surmised that it was owing to the indifference to his success of the leaders of the old Federal party, and remarked on the occasion, "This is among the thousand proofs how large a portion of Federalism is a mere fair-weather principle, too weak to overcome a shower of rain.
Josiah Quincy critiques the lack of commitment among Federalists, suggesting their principles are only strong in favorable conditions.
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They have transmitted that freedom to you; and upon you now devolves the duty of transmitting it unimpaired to your posterity.
Though conscious, being then in his seventy-eighth year, that he stood on the threshold of human life, he sought no relaxation from duty, no exemption from its performance.
May the Ruler of the universe preserve you from such degradation! 'Freedom!
The spirit of freedom and the spirit of slavery are drawing together for the deadly conflict of arms.
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