Wisdom from the Founders in Their Own Words

Wisdom from the Founders in Their Own Words

By Lawrence W. Reed

Sixty-four years ago, President John F. Kennedy assembled a group of Nobel Prize winners to honor their achievements. It was April 29, 1962. Something he said will be remembered for a very long time:

I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

Kennedy’s admiration for Jefferson was well-known. America’s 35th President understood that just like himself, our 3rd President was a flawed mortal. But he also knew that humanity owed the principal author of the Declaration of Independence a debt that can never be paid in full.

Jefferson ranks in the top tier of that truly exceptional generation of America’s founding men and women. Kennedy’s compliment could also have been said of George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and quite a few more. Historians would be hard pressed to identify another generation anywhere who did more to liberate and enlighten humanity.

Hundreds of books and untold thousands of articles have been written about the Founding era and its principal figures. I am author of one that will appear in May 2026, titled Born of Ideas: How Principles, Faith, and Courage Forged America. My purpose in this essay is to share with readers a small sample of our Founders’ wisdom in their own words. From time to time, I will add more to this collection:

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I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!” The great fish swallow up the small; and he who is most strenuous for the rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the prerogatives of government.

--- Abigail Adams, Letter to John Adams, November 27, 1775

Nothing is so mistaken as the supposition that a person is to extricate himself from a difficulty, by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. This increases the difficulties tenfold, and those who pursue these methods, get themselves so involved at length that they can turn no way but their infamy becomes more exposed. It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual, he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.

--- Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people, by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations: but on a candid examination of history, we shall find that turbulence, violence and abuse of power, by the majority trampling on the rights of the minority, have produced factions and commotions, which, in republics, have more frequently than any other cause, produced despotism. 

--- James Madison, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788

Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue. 

--- John Witherspoon, in The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776

Still one thing more, fellow citizens, a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.

--- Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is no doubt the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

--- James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 6, 1788

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

--- Benjamin Franklin, Letter to the Abbés Chalut and Arnaud, April 17, 1787

All writers on government agree, and the feelings of the human mind witnesses the truth of these political axioms, that man is born free, and possessed of certain unalienable rights—that government is instituted for the protection, safety, and happiness of the people, and not for the profit, honour, or private interest of any man, family, or class of men. That the origin of all power is in the people, and that they have an incontestable right to check the creatures of their own creation, vested with certain powers to guard the life, liberty, and property of the community.

--- Mercy Otis Warren, Observations on the New Constitution, 1788

It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The honour of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion, loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people. To contend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to others, involves an inconsistency not to be excused.

--- John Jay, Letter to R. Lushington, March 15, 1786

A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. How necessary then is it for those who are determined to transmit the blessings of liberty as a fair inheritance to posterity, to associate on public principles in support of public virtue.

--- Samuel Adams, Letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779

(Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty at the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta, Georgia. His ninth book, Born of Ideas: How Principles, Faith, and Courage Forged America, will appear in May 2026.)