Quote#Politics & Power
The Legislative has no right to absolute, arbitrary power over the…
Quote bySamuel Adams · 1722–1803
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Rights of the Colonists (1772).
English (original)
The Legislative has no right to absolute, arbitrary power over the lives and fortunes of the people; nor can mortals assume a prerogative not only too high for men, but for angels, and therefore reserved for the exercise of the Deity alone.
— Samuel Adams
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It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions.
He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a …
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The Utopian schemes of levelling, and a community of goods, are as visionary and impracticable, as those which vest all property in the Crown, are arbitrary, despotic, and in our government unconstitutional.