Our Founding Fathers
There are many great lessons in History covered by old time radio shows and leading up to 4th July we will be adding some of these, in particular with regard to our founding fathers.
It would take quite some time and research (and a degree in American History) for me to cover in detail some of our founding fathers, but for the main few we have listed in our fun poll opposite, I have sourced some important and meaningful quotes which, we think give away in part some of the important traits of the character of each. There are many more to be found, and I will add some in our 'Quote of the Day' on the right margin.
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“Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East or West. You are all dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one word, be a nation. Be Americans, and be true to yourselves."
“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."
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George Washington |
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1732-1799
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“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."
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Benjamin Franklin |
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1706-1790
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“Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.”
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased."
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Alexander Hamilton |
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1755-1804
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“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing.”
"Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits."
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Thomas Jefferson |
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1743-1826
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“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
“We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.”
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Samuel Adams |
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1722-1803
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"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives."
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
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John Adams |
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1735-1826
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"And, by the way, in the New Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors … Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no Voice, or Representation".
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”
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Abigail Adams |
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1744-1818
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"In Medford, I awakened the Captain of the Minute Men; & after that, I alarmed almost every house, till I got to Lexington."
"In the Fall of 1774 & Winter of 1775, I was one of upwards of thirty, chiefly mechanics, who formed ourselves into a committee for the purpose of watching the movements of the British soldiers, and gaining every intelligence of the movements of the Tories."
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Paul Revere |
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1735-1818
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"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
"For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it."
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Patrick Henry |
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1736-1799
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“When it can be said by any country in the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them, my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars, the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive, the rational world is my friend because I am the friend of happiness. When these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and government. Independence is my happiness, the world is my country and my religion is to do good.”
"I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace."
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Thomas Paine |
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1737-1809
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It is fascinating how much you can learn from this wonderful media. I hope you enjoy the shows we add each day and the ones already listed on RUSC found in the category of History.
Happy listening my friends,