Fisher Ames
Fisher Ames
Fisher Ameswas a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts. He was an important leader of the Federalists in the House, and was noted for his oratorical skill...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionStatesman
Date of Birth19 April 1758
CountryUnited States of America
government historical democracy
[the framers of the Constitution] intended our government should be a republic, which differs more widely from a democracy than a democracy from a despotism.
simple men democracy
All such men are, or ought to be, agreed, that simple governments are despotisms; and of all despotisms, a democracy, though the least durable, is the most violent.
school political church
We are not to consider ourselves, while here, as at church or school, to listen to the harangues of speculative piety; we are here to talk of the political interests committed to our charge.
rocks feet water
A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.
book school long
[Why] should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the Sacred Book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind.
gun rights government
The rights of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are declared to be inherent in the people.
men opinion heard
I have heard it remarked that men are not to be reasoned out of an opinion they have not reasoned themselves into.
volcanoes democracy way
A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way.
christian religious jesus
No man can be a sound lawyer in this land who is not well read in the ethics of Moses and the virtues of Jesus.
heart law liberty
Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits . . . it is founded on morals and religion, whose authority reigns in the heart, and on the influence all these produce on public opinion before that opinion governs rulers.
freedom liberty habit
Liberty is not to be enjoyed, indeed it cannot exist, without the habits of just subordination; it consists, not so much in removing all restraint from the orderly, as in imposing it on the violent.
order government people
The happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend on piety, religion, and morality.
passion men people
The people as a body cannot deliberate. Nevertheless, they will feel an irresistible impulse to act, and their resolutions will be dictated to them by their demagogues... and the violent men, who are the most forward to gratify those passions, will be their favorites. What is called the government of the people is in fact too often the arbitrary power of such men. Here, then, we have the faithful portrait of democracy.
children book school
We have a dangerous trend beginning to take place in our education. We're starting to put more and more textbooks into our schools. We've become accustomed of late of putting little books into the hands of children, containing fables and moral lessons. We're spending less time in the classroom on the Bible, which should be the principal text in our schools. The Bible states these great moral lessons better than any other man-made book.