"Ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation to the prejudice and oppression of another is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy.An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy."."Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!"."I hope.that all mankind will at length…have reason and sense enough to settle their differences without cutting throats."."This Constitution…can only end in despotism…when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.".As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.Republics…derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates." "Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins."Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech."."The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater the need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance and enable him to plunder at pleasure."."requent recurrence to fundamental principles… absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and keep a government free."."Our cause is the cause of all mankind…we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own."."Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."."All the property that is necessary to a man for the conservation of the individual… is his natural right which none can justly deprive him of."."Every man…is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty."."From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, it is still the birthright of all men."."Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God" (proposed by Franklin for the motto of the Great Seal of the United States).On his January 17 birthday, we should remember some of those inspirational words. Unfortunately, attention to what Franklin said about American liberty has often been crowded out by his other accomplishments. His discoveries went far beyond his famous kite experiment, including the identification of lead poisoning and the charting of ocean currents. He founded the University of Pennsylvania, as well as America’s first public library and hospital. He even published the first political cartoon in the colonies. He ran his own paper and published Poor Richard’s Almanac. He was a prolific inventor, from his trademark bifocals to the Franklin Stove and artificial fertilizer. However, Franklin’s role in our founding has been eclipsed in modern memory by his many other accomplishments.
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