American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Jacob Broom (October 17, 1752-April 25, 1810) was an American banker, entrepreneur, farmer, merchant and surveyor. He was a signer of the Constitution of the United States of America. Jacob Broom was described in the Official Papers of Delaware, written in 1909, as follows: <A fair example of the product of a sturdy, energetic, sagacious ancestry and evangelical Swedish orthodoxy, co-operating amid the trying environments of a struggling colony in an undeveloped land.... He lived in one of the potential crises of history, in which and for which the sublime visions and words of prophets and apostles had developed and...

John Brooks (May 31, 1752-March 1, 1825) was a physician who became the Governor of Massachusetts. He stated: <I look back upon my humble life with humility. I am sensible of many imperfections that cling to me. I know that the present is neither the season nor the place to begin the preparation for death. Our whole life is given us for this great object, and the work of preparation should be early commenced, and be never relaxed till the end of our days. To God I can appeal that it has been my humble endeavor to serve Him with...

James Madison (March 16, 1751-June 28, 1836) was the 4th President of the United States, 1809-17, and Commander in Chief during the War of 1812, having to flee the White House, with his wife Dolley, before it was captured and burned by the British. He was Rector of the University of Virginia, 1826-36; Secretary of State under Thomas Jefferson, 1801-09, where he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, 1803; U.S. Representative, 1789-1801; married Dorothy "Dolley" Payne Todd, 1794; original author and promoter of the Bill of Rights, 1789; penned many of The Federalist Papers, 1788, which were instrumental in convincing the States to...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (August 28, 1749-March 22, 1832) was a German poet, playwright and novelist. Born in Frankfurt-am-Main, he achieved recognition with his "sturm und drang" style play Gotz von Berlichingen, 1773, and the romantic novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774. He lived at the ducal court of Saxe-Weimar from 1775 till his death. A visit to Italy, 1786-88, gave inspiration for the plays Iphigenie auf Tauris, 1787, and Egmont, 1788. He wrote Torquato Tasso, 1790; The Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister, 1795-96; and his most noted work, Faust, written in stages over his career, 1808-32. He compiled fourteen volumes of...

Bishop James Madison (August 27, 1749-March 6, 1812) was President of the College of William and Mary, 1777-1812; presided over the first convention of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, 1785; and was elected first Bishop of the dioceses, 1790. His "Eulogy on George Washington" was published in 1800. On February 19, 1795, Bishop Madison responded to President George Washington's call for a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer by preaching a sermon, later published, titled Manifestation of the Beneficence of Divine Providence towards America-a Discourse, Delivered on Thursday the 19th of February, 1795, Being the Day Recommended by the President...