On the record
Adams then said, in reply to the audacious, atrocious charge of 'high treason:' 'I call for the reading of the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.
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gutenberg.orgJosiah Quincy: “Adams then said, in reply to the audacious, atrocious charge of 'high treason:' 'I call for the reading of the first…”
Editor's note · Context
This quote reflects John Quincy Adams' defense against accusations of treason by invoking the Declaration of Independence.
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More from Josiah Quincy
His spirit of liberty was fostered and inspired by the writings of Milton, Sydney, and Locke, of which the American Declaration of Independence was an emanation, and the constitution of the United States, with the exception of the clauses…
The spirit of freedom and the spirit of slavery are drawing together for the deadly conflict of arms.
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.
They have transmitted that freedom to you; and upon you now devolves the duty of transmitting it unimpaired to your posterity.
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