James Otis quotes
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“Government is founded not on force, as was the theory of Hobbes; nor on compact, as was the theory of Locke and of the revolution of 1688; nor on property, as was the assertion of Harrington. It springs from the necessities of our nature, and has an everlasting foundation in the unchangeable will of God.”
-- James Otis -
“The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.”
-- James Otis -
“Can there be any liberty where property is taken away without consent?”
-- James Otis -
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“What must be the wealth that avarice, aided by power, cannot exhaust!”
-- James Otis -
“The colonists are by the law of nature free-born, as indeed all man are, white or black...It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.”
-- James Otis -
“Every British Subject born on the continent of America, or in any other of the British dominions, is by the law of God and nature, by the common law, and by act of parliament, (exclusive of all charters from the crown) entitled to all the natural, essential, inherent and inseparable rights of our fellow subjects in Great- Britain.”
-- James Otis -
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“Parliaments are in all cases to declare what is good for the whole; but it is not the declaration of parliament that makes it so.”
-- James Otis -
“One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle.”
-- James OtisSource : Argument against the writs of assistance, Boston, Mass., Feb. 1761. Burton Stevenson, Home Book of Proverbs, Maxims and Familiar Phrases (1948), traces the proverb "A man's house is his castle" back to 1567 and notes legal usages of it by Sir Edward Coke in the seventeenth century. See Coke 1; Coke 8; William Pitt, Earl of Chatham 2
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“I am forced to get my living by the labour of my hand; and the sweat of my brow... for bitter bread, earned under the frowns of some who have no natural or divine right to be above me, and entirely owe their grandeur and honor to grinding the faces of the poor...”
-- James Otis -
“[Slave] trade ... is the most shocking violation of the law of nature, has a direct tendency to diminish ... liberty, and makes every dealer in it a tyrant, from the director of an African company to the petty chapman [peddler].... It is a clear truth, that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.”
-- James OtisSource : "Argument Against the Writs of Assistance". "Argument Against the Writs of Assistance" by James Otis Jr., 1761.
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“There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the Law of Nature and the grant of God Almighty, who has given to all men a natural right to be free, and they have it ordinarily in their power to make themselves so, if they please.”
-- James Otis -
“My dear sister, I hope, when God Almighty in his righteous providence shall take me out of time into eternity, that it will be by a flash of lightning.”
-- James Otis -
“Let the consequences be what they will, I am determined to proceed.”
-- James OtisSource : "Niles' Weekly Register, Volume 14". p. 138., en.wikiquote.org. 1818.
#Determined Quotes #I Am Determined Quotes #Consequence Quotes
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“But I think I can sincerely declare that I cheerfully submit myself to every odious name for conscience' sake; and from my soul I despise all those whose guilt, malice, or folly has made them my foes.”
-- James Otis -
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“Taxation without representation is tyranny.”
-- James Otis#Tyrants Quotes #Taxation Without Representation Quotes #Tyranny Quotes
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“I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand and villainy on the other as this Writ of Assistance is.”
-- James Otis -
“These manly sentiments, in private life, make good citizens; in public life, the patriot and the hero.”
-- James Otis -
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“I pray God I may never be brought to the melancholy trial; but, if ever I should, it will then be known how far I can reduce to practice principles which I know to be founded in truth.”
-- James OtisSource : "James Otis: Against Writs of Assistance". James Otis' speech (February 1761), as quoted in William Tudor "James Otis's Speech on the Writs of Assistance", books.google.com. 1906.
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“MAY it please your Honors: I was desired by one of the court to look into the books, and consider the question now before them concerning Writs of Assistance.”
-- James Otis -
“Every man may reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread terror and desolation around him, until the trump of the Archangel shall excite different emotions in his soul.”
-- James OtisSource : "James Otis: Against Writs of Assistance". James Otis' speech (February 1761), as quoted in William Tudor "James Otis's Speech on the Writs of Assistance", books.google.com. 1906.
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“Every one with this writ may be a tyrant; if this commission be legal, a tyrant in a legal manner, also, may control, imprison, or murder any one within the realm.”
-- James OtisSource : "James Otis: Against Writs of Assistance". James Otis' speech (February 1761), as quoted in William Tudor "James Otis's Speech on the Writs of Assistance", books.google.com. 1906.
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“I have accordingly considered it, and now appear not only in obedience to your order, but likewise in behalf of the inhabitants of this town, who have presented another petition, and out of regard to the liberties of the subject.”
-- James Otis -
“I do not say that, when brought to the test, I shall be invincible.”
-- James Otis -
“A man is accountable to no person for his doings.”
-- James OtisSource : "James Otis's speech on the Writs of assistance" edited by Albert Bushnell Hart, Edward Channing, William Tudor, Hart, Albert Bushnell,.
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“Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty, is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ of assistance, if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege.”
-- James OtisSource : Argument against the writs of assistance, Boston, Mass., Feb. 1761. Burton Stevenson, Home Book of Proverbs, Maxims and Familiar Phrases (1948), traces the proverb "A man's house is his castle" back to 1567 and notes legal usages of it by Sir Edward Coke in the seventeenth century. See Coke 1; Coke 8; William Pitt, Earl of Chatham 2
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“And I take this opportunity to declare, that ...I will to my dying day oppose, with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is. It appears to me...the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty, and the fundamental principles of the constitution, that ever was found in an English law-book.”
-- James OtisSource : "James Otis: Against Writs of Assistance". James Otis' speech (February 1761), as quoted in William Tudor "James Otis's Speech on the Writs of Assistance", books.google.com. 1906.
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“No parts of his Majesty's dominions can be taxed without their consent.”
-- James Otis -
“An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.”
-- James OtisSource : Argument against the writs of assistance, Boston, Mass., Feb. 1761
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“[The passage of the Sugar Act] set people a thinking, in six months, more than they had done in their whole lives before.”
-- James Otis -
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