On the record
It cuts the gordian knot with the sword, extinguishes all the rights of man, and makes fear the corner-stone of government.
Source
gutenberg.orgJosiah Quincy: “It cuts the gordian knot with the sword, extinguishes all the rights of man, and makes fear the corner-stone of…”
Editor's note · Context
Quincy describes a theory of government that relies on fear rather than rights.
Share
More from Josiah Quincy
They have transmitted that freedom to you; and upon you now devolves the duty of transmitting it unimpaired to your posterity.
The argument for the annexation, or reännexation, of Texas is as gross an imposture as ever was palmed upon the credulity of an honest people.
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…
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.
Other voices in this conversation
