Cyrus King (1772-1817) was a member of the United States Congress. He was on the Senate and House Joint Committee. He was brother of Rufus King, a signer of the Constitution of the United States. Cyrus King served as Major-General of the 6th Division of the Massachusetts Militia, and founded Thorton Academy.
In response to Thomas Jefferson announcing his plans to donate his personal library of 6,487 books to the Library of Congress, Cyrus King motioned to the committee:
<To report a new section authorizing the Library Committee, as soon as said library shall be received at Washington, to select there from all books of an atheistical, irreligious, and immoral tendency, if any such there be, and send the same back to Mr. Jefferson without any expense to him.> 1772CK001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1772CK001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Cyrus King.
David C. Mearns, The Story Up to Now (Washington: The Library of Congress, 1947), p. 19. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 162.