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0e4a07b When the clergy addressed on his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation that he had never on any occasion said a word to the public which showed a belief in the Christian religion and they thought they should so pen their address as to force him at length to declare publicly whether he was a Christian or not. They did so. However [Dr. Rush] observed the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every article of their address particularly except that, which he passed over without notice... I know that , who pretended to be in his secrets & believed himself to be so, has often told me that . { } founding-fathers-religion gouverneur-morris irreligious george-washington morris washington disbelief Thomas Jefferson
13580dc has almost no influence on present-day thinking in the United States because he is unknown to the average citizen. Perhaps I might say right here that this is a national loss and a deplorable lack of understanding concerning the man who first proposed and first wrote those impressive words, 'the United States of America.' But it is hardly strange. 's teachings have been debarred from schools everywhere and his views of life misrepresented until his memory is hidden in shadows, or he is looked upon as of unsound mind. We never had a sounder intelligence in this Republic. He was the equal of in making American liberty possible. Where performed devised and wrote. The deeds of one in the Weld were matched by the deeds of the other with his pen. himself appreciated at his true worth. knew him for a great patriot and clear thinker. He was a friend and confidant of , and the two must often have debated the academic and practical phases of liberty. I consider our greatest political thinker. As we have not advanced, and perhaps never shall advance, beyond the Declaration and Constitution, so has had no successors who extended his principles. Although the present generation knows little of 's writings, and although he has almost no influence upon contemporary thought, Americans of the future will justly appraise his work. I am certain of it. Truth is governed by natural laws and cannot be denied. spoke truth with a peculiarly clear and forceful ring. Therefore time must balance the scales. The Declaration and the Constitution expressed in form 's theory of political rights. He worked in Philadelphia at the time that the first document was written, and occupied a position of intimate contact with the nation's leaders when they framed the Constitution. Certainly we may believe that had a considerable voice in the Constitution. We know that had much to do with the document. also had a hand and probably was responsible in even larger measure for the Declaration. But all of these men had communed with . Their views were intimately understood and closely correlated. There is no doubt whatever that the two great documents of American liberty reflect the philosophy of . ...Then wrote 'Common Sense,' an anonymous tract which immediately stirred the fires of liberty. It flashed from hand to hand throughout the Colonies. One copy reached the New York Assembly, in session at Albany, and a night meeting was voted to answer this unknown writer with his clarion call to liberty. The Assembly met, but could find no suitable answer. had inscribed a document which never has been answered adversely, and never can be, so long as man esteems his priceless possession. In 'Common Sense' flared forth with a document so powerful that the Revolution became inevitable. recognized the difference, and in his calm way said that matters never could be the same again. It must be remembered that 'Common Sense' preceded the declaration and affirmed the very principles that went into the national doctrine of liberty. But that affirmation was made with more vigor, more of the fire of the patriot and was exactly suited to the hour... Certainly [the Revolution] could not be forestalled, once he had spoken. { } influence declaration-of-independence george-washington washington jefferson paine thomas-jefferson thomas-paine franklin Thomas Edison
f17a2e1 Suppose that a man leaps out of a burning building--as my dear friend and colleague Jeff Goldberg sat and said to my face over a table at La Tomate in Washington not two years ago--and lands on a bystander in the street below. Now, make the burning building be Europe, and the luckless man underneath be the Palestinian Arabs. Is this a historical injustice? Has the man below been made a victim, with infinite cause of complaint and indefinite justification for violent retaliation? My own reply would be a provisional 'no,' but only on these conditions. The man leaping from the burning building must still make such restitution as he can to the man who broke his fall, and must not pretend that he never even landed on him. And he must base his case on the singularity and uniqueness of the original leap. It can't, in other words, be 'leap, leap, leap' for four generations and more. The people underneath cannot be expected to tolerate leaping on this scale and of this duration, if you catch my drift. In Palestine, tread softly, for you tread on their dreams. And do tell the Palestinians that they were never fallen upon and bruised in the first place. Do not shame yourself with the cheap lie that they were told by their leaders to run away. Also, stop saying that nobody knew how to cultivate oranges in Jaffa until the Jews showed them how. 'Making the desert bloom'--one of Yvonne's stock phrases--makes desert dwellers out of people who were the agricultural superiors of the Crusaders. injustice history analogies jaffa jeff-goldberg crusades victims washington israeli-palestinian-conflict europe arabs colonialism israel jews palestine palestinians Christopher Hitchens
f3f4998 "Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, writes it, builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, shakespeare phidias wren george-washington raphael washington james-watt watt william-shakespeare Ralph Waldo Emerson
589f875 British diplomats and Anglo-American types in Washington have a near-superstitious prohibition on uttering the words 'Special Relationship' to describe relations between Britain and America, lest the specialness itself vanish like a phantom at cock-crow. foreign-relations foreign-relations-of-the-us uk-us-relations washington united-states superstition britain diplomacy Christopher Hitchens
cce4ac1 "[Free trade agreements] are trade agreements that don't socialism politics brilliant bush corporatocracy coup-d-état democratic dictator free-trade gore green-party inefficiency lincoln nader reform protectionism ralph-nader transparency intelligent washington progressive corporations terrorism corruption rich obama genius jefferson government fascism capitalism communism Ralph Nader
25c90ee She was back in western Washington state, where rain was so prevalent that a day of sunshine was the lead story on the local news. washington seattle Susan Mallery
af6b6d0 Washington's all abstraction. It's about access to power and nothing else. I mean, I'm sure it's fun if you're living next door to Seinfeld, or To Wolfe, or Mike Bloomberg, but living next door to them isn't what New York is about, In Washington people literally talk about how many feet away from John Kerry's house their own house is. The neighborhoods are all so blah, the only thing that turns people on is proximity to power. It's a total fetish culture. People get this kind of orgasmic shiver when they tell you they sat next to Paul Wolfowitz at a conference or got invited to Grover Norquist's breakfast. freedom humor washington Jonathan Franzen
5bdfcab Con tal disposicion y determinacion, !que pais es este para el viajero, donde la mas misera posada esta tan llena de aventuras como un castillo encantado y cada comida es en si un logro! !Que se quejen otros de la falta de buenos caminos y hoteles suntuosos y de todas las complicadas comodidades de un pais culto y civilizado en la mansedumbre y el lugar comun, pero a mi que me den el trepar por las asperas montanas, el andar por ahi errante y las costumbres medio salvajes, pero francas y hospitalarias, que le dan un sabor tan exquisito a la querida, vieja y romantica Espana! viajes cuentos irving libros washington españa Washington Irving