________________________________________________________
"Children should
be educated and instructed in the principle of freedom.”
— John Adams
(1797-1801) Second President of the United States and Patriot
________________________________________________________
“What
students would learn
in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus
Christ.” "It is
impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible."
—
George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
“The
only foundation for a
useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this
there can
be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty
is the
object and life of all republican governments. Without religion, I
believe that
learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of
mankind.”
—Gouverneur Morris
(1752-1816) Statesman, Diplomat, writer of the final draft of the
Constitution
“No
nation has ever existed
or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion
is the
best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of
this
nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.”
—
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826) Third President of the United States
“The
fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and
instruction.”
— Proverbs
1:7 RSV
“Religion,
morality, and
knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind,
schools and the means of education shall forever be
encouraged.”
—
Northwest
Ordinance - Article
3. 1787
“The
best means of forming a manly, virtuous,
and happy people will be found in the right [religious] education of
youth.
Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must
fail.”
—
George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
"If
a nation expects to
be ignorant and free. It expects what never was and never will be."
— Thomas Jefferson, Author of the
Declaration of Independence,
3rd President of the U. S
"Reason
and experience both
forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle. …It
is impossible to rightly
govern the world without God and the Bible.”
— George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
“The
known propensity of a
democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant
believe
to be liberty.”
— Fisher Ames (1758-1808)
Founding Father and framer of the First Amendment to the Constitution
“The
virtues of men are of
more consequence to society than their abilities; and for this reason,
the
heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.”
—
Noah
Webster
(1758-1843) Father
of the Dictionary
& American Patriot
“It
being one chief project
of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the
Scriptures,
as in former times by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these
latter
times by persuading from the use of tongues, that so that at least the
true
sense and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with
false
glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; and to the end that learning may
not be buried
in the grave of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord
assisting
our endeavors.”
—
The
Old Deluder Satan Act -
1649
“Put
on the whole armor of
God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For
we are
not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities,
against
the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against
the
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
— Ephesians 6:11-12 RSV
"God who gave us life gave us
liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a
conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble
for my
country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep
forever."
—
Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826) Third President of the United States
“The
education of young
citizens ought to form them to good manners, to accustom them to labor,
to
inspire them with a love of order, and to impress them with respect
for. lawful
authority. Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore
education
should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man towards
God.
These
duties are,
internally, love and adoration; externally, devotion and obedience;
therefore
provision should bo made for maintaining divine worship as well as
education. But
each one has a right to entire liberty as to religion opinions, for
religion is
the relation between God and man ; therefore it is not within the reach
of
human authority."
—
Gouverneur Morris
(1752-1816) Statesman, Diplomat, writer of the final draft of the
Constitution
“The
only means of
establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government is the
universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by
means of
the Bible.”
— Benjamin
Rush (1745-1813) Founding Father& signer of the Declaration of
Independence
"To
a man of liberal education,
the study of history is not only useful, and important, but altogether
indispensable, and with regard to the history contained in the Bible
…it is not
so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with as it is shameful to be
ignorant of
it.”
— John Quincy Adams,
(1767-1848) 6th
President of the United States
"A primary
object …should be the education of our youth in the science
of government. In a
republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what
duty
more pressing … than … communicating it
to those who are to be the future guardians
of the liberties of the country?"
— George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
“To a man of liberal
education, the study of
history is not only useful, and important, but altogether
indispensable, and
with regard to the history contained in the Bible, the observation
which Cicero
makes respecting that of his own country is much more emphatically
applicable,
that ‘it is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with as
it is shameful to
be ignorant of it.’”
— John Quincy Adams,
(1767-1848) 6th
President of the United States
“It
is in the interest of tyrants
to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any
country
where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of
a people
are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot
subsist
separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this reason,
it is
always observable, that those who are combin'd to destroy the people's
liberties,
practice every art to poison their morals.”
— Samuel Adams
(1722–1803)
Father of the American Revolution, Patriot and Statesman
"Religion is the only
solid basis of good morals and morals are the only possible support of
free
governments. Therefore education should teach the precepts of religion
and the
duties of man towards God."
—
Gouverneur Morris
(1752-1816) Statesman, Diplomat, writer of the final draft of the
Constitution
“A
nation of well-informed
men, who have been taught to know and prize the rights that God has
given them
cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny
begins!”
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Statesman, Scientist,
Inventor, Printer and
Philosopher
“No
nation is permitted to
live in ignorance with impunity.”
— Thomas
Jefferson, Author of
the Declaration of Independence,
3rd President of the U. S.
"Knowledge is,
in every country, the surest
basis of public happiness."
—
George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
“If
they proceed in it (reomving the Bible from school), they will do more
in half
a century in extirpating our religion than Bolingbroke or Voltaire
could have
effected in a thousand years. …I lament that we waste so
much time and money in
punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess
to be
republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and
perpetuating
our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of
our
youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this
divine
book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that
respect for
just laws, and all those sober and frugal virtues which constitute the
soul of
republicanism."
—
Benjamin
Rush (1745-1813) Founding Father& signer of the Declaration of
Independence
“It
cannot be
emphasized too
strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by
religionists,
but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus
Christ!”
— Patrick
Henry (1736-1799)
Patriot, Lawyer and Orator
"He
who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive
Christianity will change the face of the world."
— Benjamin
Franklin (1706-1790) Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Printer and
Philosopher
“What
students would learn
in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus
Christ.” "It is
impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible."
— George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
"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
(1758-1843) Father of the Dictionary & American
Patriot
"A
satisfactory plan
for primary education is certainly a vital desideratum in our
republics. A
popular government, without popular information, or the means of
acquiring it,
is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge
will
forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own
governors, must
arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
— James Madison (1751-1836)
Father of the Constitution, 4th President of the United
States
"I
know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the
people
themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise
their
control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from
them,
but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true
corrective of
abuses of constitutional power."
— Thomas
Jefferson, Author of the
Declaration of Independence,
3rd President of the U. S
Webster’s
1828
Dictionary - Preface “
“In my view, the Christian
religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all
children, under a free government ought to be instructed.
…No truth is more
evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis
of any
government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free
people.
Webster’s
1828
Dictionary
EDUCATION: The bringing up,
as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends
all
that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to
enlighten the
understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of
youth,
and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children
a good
education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a
religious
education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on
parents and
guardians who neglect these duties.
"The
only foundation
for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without
this
there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and
liberty
is the object and life of all republican governments. Such is my
veneration for every religion that
reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and
punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or
Mohammed
inculcated upon our youth than see them grow up wholly devoid of a
system of
religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend in this
place is the
religion of Jesus Christ. It is foreign to my purpose to hint at the
arguments
which establish the truth of the Christian revelation. My only business
is to
declare that all its doctrines and precepts are calculated to promote
the
happiness of society and the safety and well-being of civil government.
A
Christian cannot fail of being a republican*."
—
Benjamin
Rush (1745-1813) Founding Father& signer of the Declaration of
Independence
“If
we work upon marble, it
will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear
temples,
they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and
instill
into them just principles, we are then engraving that upon tablets
which no
time will efface, but will brighten and brighten to all
eternity.”
— Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
Author, Lawyer and Patriot
*Republican as
in principles of Republicanism. Republicanism is more than a
form of government, such as our Constitutional Republic.
It is a
Judio-Christian biblically based political philosophy based on
republican
principles comprised of republican vales and virtues (not the
Republican
Party). The foundation or bedrock of republicanism, which is the
foundation of
American Exceptionalism is God, His law and blessing upon a people and
a
nation.
“I
call upon you also to
support schools in all your towns, that the rising generation may not
grow up
in ignorance. Grudge not any expence proportionate to your abilities.
It is a
debt you owe to your children, and that God to whom they belong; a
necessary evidence
of your regard for their present and future happiness, and of your
concern to
transmit the blessings you yourselves enjoy to future generations. The
human
mind without early and continual cultivation grows wild and savage:
knowledge
must be instilled as its capacities gradually enlarge, or it cannot
expand and
extend its sphere of activity. Without instruction men can have no
knowledge
but what comes from their own observation and experience, and it will
be a long
time before they can be acquainted even with things most necessary for
the
support and comfort of the present life. Leave your children untaught
to read,
write, cypher, &c. teach them no trade, or husbandry; let them
grow up
wholly without care; and they will be more fit for a savage than civil
life,
and whatever inheritance you may think to leave them will be of no
advantage.
But,
on the contrary, train
them up in the fear of God, in an acquaintance with his word, and all
such
useful knowledge as your abilities will allow, and they will soon know
how to
provide for themselves, perhaps may take care of their aged parents,
and fill
the various stations in life with honor and advantage. Look round and
see the
growing youth: they are to succeed in your stead; government and
religion must
be continued by them; from among these will shortly rise up our
legislators,
judges, ministers of the gospel, and officers of every rank. Can you
think of
this, and not promote schools, academies, and colleges? Can you leave
the youth
uninstructed in any thing which may prepare them to act their part well
in the
world? Will you suffer ignorance to spread its horrid gloom over the
land? An
ignorant people will easily receive idolatry for their religion, and
must bow
their necks to the tyrant’s yoke, because they are incapable
of using rational
liberty. Will you then consign over your posterity to foolish and
abominable
superstitions instead of religion, and to be the slaves of despotism,
when a
small proportion of the produce of your labours will make them wise,
free, and
happy?”
— Samuel
Langdon (1723-1797) –
Thirteenth president of Harvard
University,
delegate to the New Hampshire
convention that adopted the
Constitution
“Should
you enter upon the
course of studies here marked out,
you must
consider it as the finishing of your
education,
and, therefore, as the time is limited, that every hour misspent is
lost for
ever, and that future years cannot
compensate for lost days at
this period of your life.
This reflection must show
the necessity of an unremitting application to your studies.
To point out the importance of circumspection in your
conduct, it may be
proper to
observe, that
a good
moral character is the first
essential in a man, and
that the habits contracted at your
age are generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through life.
It is therefore highly
important, that you should endeavor not only to be learned, but
virtuous. Much
more might be said to show the necessity of application and regularity;
but
when you must know, that without them you can never be qualified to
render
service to your country,
assistance to your friends,
or consolation to your retired moments, nothing further need be
said to
prove their utility.”
—
George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
“Our
liberty depends on our
education, our laws and habits, to which even prejudices yield; on the
dispersion of our people on farms, and on the almost equal diffusion of
property; it is founded on morals and religion [Bible] , whose
authority reigns
in the heart; and on the influence all these produce on public opinion,
before
that opinion governs rulers. Here liberty is restraint; there it is
violence;
here it is mild and cheering, like the morning sun of our summer,
brightening
the hills and making the valleys green; there it is like the sun, when
his rays
dart pestilence on the sands of Africa.
American liberty calms and restrains the licentious passions, like an
angel,
that says to the winds and troubled seas.”
— Fisher Ames (1758-1808)
Founding Father and framer of the First Amendment to the Constitution
In
Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education
for public schools in Pennsylvania,
he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian
religion
above all others, ancient or modern." And in 1787 when Franklin
helped found Benjamin Franklin University,
it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on
Christ,
the Cornerstone."
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Statesman, Scientist,
Inventor, Printer and
Philosopher
"The impious presumption
of
legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being
themselves but
fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of
others,
setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true
and
infallible, and as such, endeavoring to impose them on others, hath
established
and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and
through
all time: that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for
the
propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and
tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher
(or
public school) for his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of
the
comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular
pastor (or private school) whose
morals
he would make his pattern, and
whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and in
withdrawing from
the ministry those temporary rewards."
—
Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826) Third President of the United States
“It
has always been a source
of serious reflection and sincere regret with me that the youth of the United States
should be sent to foreign countries for the purpose of education.
Although
there are many who escape the danger of contracting principles
unfavorable to republican
governments, yet we ought to deprecate the hazard attending ardent and
susceptible minds from being too strongly and too early prejudiced in
favor of
other political systems, before they are capable of appreciating their
own.”
—
George Washington
(1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States
"The belief in
a God All Powerful wise and
good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the
happiness of
man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many
sources nor
adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and
capacities
impressed with it."
—
James Madison (1751-1836)
Father of the Constitution, 4th President of the United
States
"Whereas it
appeareth that however certain forms of government are better
calculated than
others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural
rights, and
are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet
experience hath shown, that even under the best forms those intrusted
with
power have in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny;
and it
is believed the most effectual means of preventing this would be to
illuminate,
as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more
especially
thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be
enabled to
know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exort their natural
powers to
defeat its purposes; and whereas it is generally true that the people
will be
happiest whoso laws are best, and are best administered, and that laws
will be
wisely formed and honestly administered in proportion as those who form
and
administer them are wise and honest; whence it becomes expedient for
promoting
the public happiness, that those persons whom nature hath endowed with
genius
and virtue should be rendered, by liberal education, worthy to receive,
and
able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their
fellow-citizens, and that they should be called to the charge without
regard to
wealth, birth, or other accidental condition or circumstance. But the
indigence
of the greater number, disabling them from so educating at their own
expense those
of their children whom nature hath fitly formed and disposed to become
useful
instruments of the public, it is better that such should be sought for
and
educated at the common expense of all than that the happiness of all
should be
confided to the weak or wicked."
—
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826) Third President of the United States
“To
educate a man in mind
and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
(1901-1909) 26th President of the United States
“Freedom
is never more than
one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our
children in the
bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them
to do the
same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children
and our
children’s children what it was once like in the United States
were men were free.”
— Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
40th President of the United States
"It is
the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according
to their
circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence;
and to
educate them according to the suggestions of a judicious and zealous
regard for
their usefulness, their respectability and happiness."
— James
Wilson (1742-1798) Founding Father, assisted in drafting the
Constitution,
Supreme Court Justice
“Education is useless
without the Bible.”
—
Daniel Webster (1782-1852) Author, Lawyer and Patriot
“The
philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy
of
government in the next.”
— Abraham Lincoln
(1809–1865) Sixteenth President of the United States
"Cursed
be all that
learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.”
— Rev. Jonathan
Dickinson (1688–1747)
Minister and First President of Princeton University
"Cursed
be all that learning
that is contrary to the cross of Christ; cursed be all that learning
that is
not coincident with the cross of Christ; cursed be all that learning
that is
not subservient to the cross of Christ.”
— John Witherspoon
(1722-1794) Educator, Economist, Minister, Writer & Founding
Father
"It should be
your care, therefore, and mine,
to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to
accelerate and
animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual
contempt of
meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to
excel in
every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel
and
creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives."
— John
Adams (1797-1801)
Second President of the United States
and Patriot
"The
good education of youth
has been esteemed by wise men in all ages, as the surest foundation of
the happiness
both of private families and of common-wealths. Almost all governments
have
therefore made it a principal object of their attention, to establish
and endow
with proper revenues, such seminaries of learning, as might supply the
succeeding age with men qualified to serve the public with honor to
themselves,
and to their country”
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Printer and Philosopher
“It
is an object of vast
magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which
may not
only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds
of the
American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them
with
just and liberal ideas of government and with an inviolable attachment
to their
own country."
— Noah
Webster
(1758-1843) Father
of the Dictionary
& American Patriot
"To give to
every citizen the information he
needs for the transaction of his own business; To enable him to
calculate for
himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and
accounts, in
writing; To improve, by reading, his morals and faculties; To
understand his
duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence
the
functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise
with order
and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary
of those
he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor,
and
judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and
faithfulness all
the social relations under which he shall be placed."
—
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826) Third President of the United States
"Laws for the liberal*
education of the youth, especially of the lower class of the people,
are so
extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no
expense for
this purpose would be thought extravagant."
— John Adams (1797-1801)
Second President of the United States
and Patriot
*Liberal – Websters 1828
Dictionary - General; extensive; embracing literature and the sciences
generally; as a liberal education. This phrase is often but not
necessarily
synonymous with collegiate; as a collegiate education.
**“The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and
instruction.” — Proverbs 1:7
RSV)(“Religion, morality, and
knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind,
schools and the means of education shall forever be
encouraged.” — Northwest
Ordinance - Article 3. 1787)(“Our
constitution was made
only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the
government of any other.” “We have no
government armed with power capable
of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
— John Adams)
"Wisdom
and knowledge as
well as virtue diffused generally among the body of the people being
necessary for
the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on
spreading
the opportunities and advantages of education, in the various parts of
the country,
and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of
the
Legislatures and magistrates…to cherish the interests of
literature, and the
sciences, and all seminaries of learning. …
You have put upon us by your legislation an
immense mass of ignorant voters. They have not wisdom, they have not
knowledge,
some of them even have no virtue, as is the case in every community.
These are
not diffused among them; from the very nature of the case it cannot be;
and yet
how anxiously you guard their rights to go to the polls to make laws
for us and
to regulate our affairs. You have, it may be wisely or unwisely,
excluded them
from the polls in your States. They must have something of this wisdom,
something
of this knowledge, something of this virtue there, before you permit
them to go
to your polls."
— John
Adams (1797-1801)
Second President of the United States
and Patriot
“An
informed patriotism is
what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children
what America
is and
what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who
are over
35 or so years of age grew up in a different America.
We were taught, very
directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in
the air,
a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. …
We've got to do a
better job of getting across that America
is freedom--freedom of
speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is
special and
rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.
"It is
the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according
to their
circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence;
and to
educate them according to the suggestions of a judicious and zealous
regard for
their usefulness, their respectability and happiness."
— James
Wilson (1742-1798) Founding Father, assisted in drafting the
Constitution,
Supreme Court Justice
So,
we've got to teach
history based not on what's in fashion but what's important: Why the
Pilgrims
came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo
meant. You know,
four years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-Day ... I'm warning of an
eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an
erosion
of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to
American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. And let me
offer
lesson No. 1 about America:
All great change in America
begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope
the
talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you
what it
means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be
a very
American thing to do.”
— Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
40th President of the United States
“The
Jews, the Greeks, the
Romans, the Dutch, all lost their public spirit, their republican
principles
and habits, and their republican forms of government when they lost the
modesty
and domestic virtues of their women. The foundations of national
morality must be
laid in private families. In vain are schools, academies, and
universities
instituted, if loose principles and licentious habits are impressed
upon
children in their earliest years. The mothers are the earliest and most
important instructors of youth. The vices and examples of the parents
can not
be concealed from the children. The Christian religion is, above all
the
religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times,
the
religion of wisdom, virtue, equity, and humanity.”
— John Adams (1797-1801)
Second President of the United States
and Patriot
"The
Bible is the best
of books, and I wish it were in the hands of every one. It is
indispensable to the
safety and permanence of our institutions. A free government can not
exist
without religion and morals, and there cannot be morals without
religion. Especially
should the Bible be placed in the hands of the young. It is the best
school
book in the world. I would that all our people were brought up under
the influence
of that holy book."
—
Zachary
Taylor (1784–1850) 12th President
of the United States
and military leader
"A
nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain
uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that
requires
ignorance for its support."
— Thomas
Paine (1736-1809) Patriot, Author & Pamphleteer
"Human
life, from the cradle
to the grave, is a school. At every period of his existence man wants a
teacher. His pilgrimage upon earth is but a term of childhood, in which
he is
to be educated for the manhood of a brighter world. As the child must
be educated
for manhood upon earth, so the man must be educated upon earth, for
heaven; and
finally that where the foundation is not laid in time, the
superstructure can
not rise for eternity."
— John Quincy Adams,
(1767-1848) 6th
President of the United States
"With the
history
of men, times, and nations, should be read at proper hours or days,
some of the
best histories of nature, which would not only be delightful to youth,
and
furnish Morality, by descanting and making continual observations on
the causes
of the rise or fall of any man's character, fortune, and power,
mentioned in history;
the advantages of temperance, order, frugality, industry, and
perseverance.
Indeed, the general natural tendency of reading good history must be,
to fix in
the minds of youth deep impressions of the beauty and usefulness of
virtue of
all kinds, public spirit, and fortitude. …
History
will also afford frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a
public
religion, from its usefulness to the public; the advantage of a
religious
character among private persons; the mischiefs of superstition, and the
excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or
modern.
History
will also give occasion to expatiate on the advantage of civil orders
and constitutions;
how men and their properties are protected by joining in societies and
establishing
government; their industry encouraged and rewarded, arts invented, and
life
made more comfortable; the advantages of liberty, mischiefs of
licentiousness,
benefits arising from good laws and a due execution of justice. Thus
may the
first principles of sound politics be fixed in the minds of youth.
On
historical occasions, questions of right and wrong, justice and
injustice, will
naturally arise, and may be put to youth, which they may debate in
conversation
and in writing. When they ardently desire victory, for the sake of the
praise
attending it, they will begin to feel the want, and be sensible of the
use, of logic,
or the art of reasoning to discover truth, and of arguing to defend it,
and convince
adversaries. This would be the time to acquaint them with the
principles of
that art. Grotius, Puffendorff, and some other writers of the same
kind, may be
used on these occasions to decide their disputes. Public disputes warm
the
imagination, whet the industry, and strengthen the natural abilities.
When youth
are told, that the great men, whose lives and actions they read in
history, spoke
two of the best languages that ever were, the most expressive, copious,
beautiful; and that the finest writings, the most correct compositions,
the
most perfect productions of human wit and wisdom, are in those
languages, which
have endured for ages, and will endure while there are men; that no
translation
can do them justice, or give the pleasure found in reading the
originals; that
those languages contain all science; that one of them is become almost
universal, being the language of learned men in all countries; and that
to
understand them is a distinguishing ornament; they may be thereby made
desirous
of learning those languages, and their industry sharpened in the
acquisition of
them. All intended for divinity, should be taught the Latin and Greek;
for
physic, the Latin, Greek, and French; for law, the Latin and French;
merchants,
the French, German, and Spanish; and, though all should not be
compelled to
learn Latin, Greek, or the modern foreign languages, yet none that have
an
ardent desire to learn them should be refused; their English,
arithmetic, and
other studies absolutely necessary, being at the same time not
neglected.
If the new
Universal
History were also read, it would give a connected idea of human
affairs, so far
as it goes, which should be followed by the best modern histories,
particularly
of our mother country; then of these colonies; which should be
accompanied with
observations on their rise, increase, use to Great Britain,
encouragements and
discouragements, the means to make them flourish, and secure their
liberties."
—
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Printer and Philosopher
“Seek
truth while you are
young, for if you do not, it will later escape your grasp”
— Plato (427BC-347BC)
Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician and writer
“Train
up a child in the way
he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
— Proverbs 22:6 RSV
"Whoever
causes one of
these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him
if a
great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the
sea.”
—
Mark 9:42 RSV
“But
whoever causes one of
these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him
to have
a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the
depth of the
sea.”
—
Matthew 18:6 RSV
“My
people are destroyed for
lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you
from being
a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I
also will
forget your children. The more they increased, the more they sinned
against me;
I will change their glory into shame.”
—
Hosea 4:6-7 RSV
