"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety."
~ Benjamin Franklin, Historical
Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
"The colonists are by the law of nature free born, as indeed all man are, white or black. . . . It is
a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own."
~ James Otis,The Rights
of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, 1764
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power
to endanger the public liberty."
~ John Adams, Journal, 1772
"Among the natural rights of the Colonists are these:
First, a right to life; Secondly, to liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in
the best manner they can."
"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without
such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion
to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner
of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to
time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts,
pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time
to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
~ Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 13, 1787, Letter to William S. Smith, see Jefferson On Democracy, 20 (S. Padover ed. 1939).
"Liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot subsist without
it; and it is liberty to that which is good, just, and honest"
~ John Winthrop, Life and Letters. Vol. ii. p. 341.
NOTE: This website is for informational purposes only.
There is no "group" per se. This is a resource for residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Getting
to know your government, its resources, and your options.
