American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

James Otis (February 5, 1725-May 23, 1783) was a colonial lawyer, statesman and brother to the American poet Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814). He graduated from Harvard College and in 1756, became the King's advocate-general of the vice-admiralty court at Boston. In 1761, he was elected as a representative of Boston to the Massachusetts General Court. His efforts led to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765. In 1764, James Otis cited the reason for government in "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved": <The first principle and great end of government being to provide for the best good of all...

George Mason (December 11, 1725-October 7, 1792) was an American Revolutionary statesman and delegate from Virginia to the Constitutional Convention. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, a lawyer, judge, political philosopher and planter. The richest man in Virginia, George Mason owned 15,000 acres in Virginia and 80,000 acres in the Ohio area. He was the author of the Virginia Constitution and the Virginia Bill of Rights. Although a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, George Mason refused to sign the United States Constitution as it did not abolish slavery and did not sufficiently limit the Federal Government's power...

Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724-February 12, 1804) was a German philosopher, whose major philosophical work, Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1781, is comparable to the works of Plato or Aristotle in importance. His later works include Critique of Practical Reason, 1788, and Critique of Judgment, 1790. Born in Kaliningrad, Immanuel Kant stated: <The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.> 1724IK001 <In the life and the Divine doctrine of Christ which are recorded in the Gospel,...

Isaac Backus (January 9, 1724-November 20, 1806) was an American separatist leader and colonial historian. He wrote many influence works, including: History of New England-with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians Called Baptist, published in 1777; and "A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Massachusetts-Bay in New England," in which he stated: <Nothing can be true religion but a voluntary obedience unto His revealed will, of which each rational soul has an equal right to judge for himself, every person has an unalienable right to act in all religious affairs according to the full persuasion...

William Livingston (November 1723-July 25, 1790) was a Brigadier General in the militia and a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses. He signed the U.S. Constitution, being 61 years old at the time. He served as the first Governor of New Jersey, and was re-elected for 14 years. Growing up on the frontier around Albany, William Livingston knew the missionaries who worked among the Mohawks. He graduated first in his class from Yale and went on to study law. While living in New York, he published articles defending the faith, many of which were published in The Independent Reflector,...