Be Prepared

Day 335

"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy."

~George Washington~ 

General Happiness

Day 332

"If there is a form of government, then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better calculated to promote the general happiness than any other form?"

~John Adams~ 

 

 

 

Extend your views beyond yourself

Day 331

"It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn."

~George Washington~ 

Give this Christmas Away!

A few days ago we were putting up our Christmas tree and someone said we should play Matthew West's song 'Give this Christmas Away'. 

I hide it well but I always get a little worried when someone wants to play a song for all of us because out of ten people there is almost always someone who doesn't like the song.

But we played it and to my happy relief I saw Daddy tapping his foot and at the end he was singing the refrain. Mommy said at the end that it was very pretty and everybody wanted to play it again. 

It's a small thing a guess but it makes me happy when everybody likes a song. I can sit back and sing it as loud as I like and know that (except for my not-go-great singing voice) no one will mind. 

So this is a great beginning to the best time of year. Starting November first and going though January first is the best time of year in my opinion.

Well Bye,

®achel™

Care of human life and happiness

Day 330

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

 

 

When the government decides...

Day 329

"If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Pervent is Ruin

Day 328

"If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government, our Country will stand in Need of its experienced Patriots to prevent its Ruin."

~Samuel Adams~ 

Law & Liberty

Day 327

"Law and liberty cannot rationally become the objects of our love, unless they first become the objects of our knowledge."

~James Wilson~ 

 

 

 

Happiness

Day 326

"It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness." 

~Thomas Jefferson~

Abigail Adams

Day 325

~Form Benjamin Rush’s Sketches about Abigail Adams~

“The pleasures of these evenings [in conversation with John Adams] was much enhanced by the society of Mrs. Adams, who in point of talent, knowledge, virtue, and female accomplishments was in every respect fitted to be the friend and companion of her husband in all his different and successive stations, of private citizen, member of Congress, foreign minister, Vice President and President of the United States.”

 

 

 

 

Every child in America...

Day 324

"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country." 

~Noah Webster~ 

 

 

 

Opinions

Day 323

 ~Thomas Jefferson's opinion of George Washington~

"Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor fluency of words. In public, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short and embarrassed."

 

 

 

The spirit of resistance

Day 322

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

My humble opinion

Day 321

"Government, in my humble opinion, should be formed to secure and to enlarge the exercise of the natural rights of its members; and every government, which has not this in view, as its principal object, is not a government of the legitimate kind."

~James Wilson~

 

 

 

Free system of commerce

Day 320

"I own myself the friend to a very free system of commerce, and hold it as a truth, that commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive and impolitic — it is also a truth, that if industry and labour are left to take their own course, they will generally be directed to those objects which are the most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out."

~James Madison~ 

 

 

 

 

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Day 319

"United we stand, divided we fall, Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs." 

~Patrick Henry~ 

 

 

 

Perpetual Union

Day 318

 

"The Delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-seven, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America agree to certain articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States...

The stile of this confederacy shall be "The United States of America."

~Articles of Confederation~

God is Just

Day 317

"Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever." 

~Thomas Jefferson~

The Love of God

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.


Chorus: O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Well Bye, 

®achel™

  

Liberty and Learning

Day 316

"What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual & surest support?"

~James Madison~  

 

 

 

Birthday Buddies

This is a late happy birthday to my twin and my best friend in all the world! 

We are so different and yet so much a like that we are able to agree on all sorts of plans and carry them out with amazing results. *Sneaky giggle here.*

Happy Birthday Erin! 

You're the best! 

Rachel 

Armed

Day 315

“The great object is that every man be armed.”

~Patrick Henry~

He is a complete gentleman

Day 314

“You will doubtless have been informed that the Congress have unanimously appointed George Washington, Esqr. General and Commander in Chief of the American forces. I beg leave and recommend him to your respectful notice. He is a complete gentleman. He is sensible, amiable, virtuous, modest, and brave. I promise myself that your acquaintance with him will afford you great pleasure, and I doubt not his agreeable behavior and good conduct will give great Satisfaction to our people of all denominations.”     

~Thomas Cushing to James Bowdoinsr~

Catch It!!!

Day 313

“The Declaration of Independence only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it your self!”
~Benjamin Franklin~

 

 

I saved this quotation for my birthday and I hope you like it! 

Well Bye, 

®achel™

If....

Day 312

“[I]f we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

~Daniel Webster~

Every word!

Day 311

“Every word of the Constitution ultimately decides a question between power and liberty.”  

~James Madison~

 

 

 

Impartial Justice

Day 310

"The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Great Country!

“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” 

~John Jay~

 

 

I don't have much to say with this post. And it doesn't really matter if I did, no one reads it anyway, but I do have thoughts on who I would like to be our next President and I thought I might as well say that even if I can't vote yet and I'm only one teenage girl in a who Country of thousands of people a lot louder than I am.  But I love America and want it to go on being the GREAT Country it has been for so long. 

"Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor."
~1 Peter 2:16b~

Well Bye, 

®achel™

The People Themselves

Day 309

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Precautions

Day 308

"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~ 

Dangerous to Play With

Day 307

"The Army (considering the irritable state it is in, its suffering and composition) is a dangerous instrument to play with."

~George Washington~ 

Give it up...

Day 306

"Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you… From the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment of death."

~Thomas Jefferson~ 

Ceremony and Civility

Day 305

“Friendship cannot live with ceremony, nor without civility.”
~Benjamin Franklin~ 

God be Praised!

Day 304

"Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous than their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords."

 ~Samuel Adams~