Founding Issues
Law

1. "Human legislators can undertake only to prescribe the actions of men; they acknowledge their inability to govern and direct the sentiments of the heart. ... It is one of the greatest marks of Divine favor bestowed upon the children of Israel that the legislator [God] gave the rules not only of action but for the government of the heart."
   
   - John Quincy Adams, United States Founding Father, Sixth President under the Constitution, "Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings", (Auburn: James M. Alden, 1850), p. 62
2. "The laws of nature and of nature's God ... of course presupposes the existence of a God, the moral ruler of the universe, and a rule of right and wrong, of just and unjust, binding upon man, preceding all institutions of human society and of government."
   
   - John Quincy Adams, United States Founding Father, Sixth President under the Constitution, "The Jubilee of the Constitution", (New York: Published by Samuel Colman, 1839), pp. 13-14
3. "The origin of lawful government among men had formed a subject of profound investigation and of ardent discussion among the philosophers of ancient Greece. The theocratic government of the Hebrews had been founded upon a covenant between God and man; a law, given by the Creator of the world, and solemnly accepted by the people of Israel. It derived all its powers, therefore, from the consent of the governed, and gave the sanction of Heaven itself to the principle, that the consent of the governed is the only legitimate source of authority to man over man."
   
   - John Quincy Adams, United States Founding Father, Sixth President under the Constitution, "AN ORATION DELIVERED BEFORE THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF NEWBURYPORT, AT THEIR REQUEST, ON THE SIXTY-FIRST ANIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, July 4th, 1837"
4. "If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them."
   
   - Samuel Adams, United States Founding Father, Father of the American Revolution, "Boston Gazette", January 20, 1772, Sameul Adams writing as "Candidus"
5. "In the supposed state of nature, all men are equally bound by the laws of nature, or to speak more properly, the laws of the Creator."
   
   - Samuel Adams, United States Founding Father, Father of the American Revolution, "The Writings of Samuel Adams", Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1908) Vol. IV, p. 356, to the Legislature of Massachusetts on January 17, 1794
6. "All positive and civil laws should conform, as far as possible, to the law of natural reason and equity. As neither reason requires nor religion permits the contrary, every man living in or out of a state of civil society has a right peaceably and quietly to worship God according to the dicatates of his conscience. "Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty," in matters spiritual and temporal, is a thing that all men are clearly entitled to by the eternal and immutable laws of God and nature, as well as by the law of nations and all well-grounded municipal laws, which must have their foundation in the former."
   
   - Samuel Adams, United States Founding Father, Father of the American Revolution, "The Rights of the Colonists", November 20, 1772, presented publicly by James Otis - his last public appearance.
7. "Nothing is more certain than that the forms of liberty may be retained when the substance is gone. In government, as well as in religion, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life". 2 Cor. 3:6"
   
   - John Dickinson, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, "The Political Writings of John Dickinson", (Wilmington: Bonsal and Niles, 1801), Vol. I, p. 199, on the elementary principle of the law, that it is the responsibility of the courts, to establish the spirit of the law before ruling on it.
8. "The law of nature being coeval with mankind and dictated by God Himself is of course superior to [and] the foundation of all other laws."
   
   - William Findley, United States Founding Father, Captain in the American Revolution, U.S. Congressman, "Observations on "The Two Sons of Oil"", p. 33
9. "The law of nature, "which, being coeval with mankind and dictated by God Himself, is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this."
   
   - Alexander Hamilton, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, "The Papers of Alexander Hamilton", Harold C. Syrett, editor, (New York: columbia University Press, 1961), Vol. I, p. 87, February 23, 1775, quoting William Blackstone, "Commentaries on the Laws of England", (Philadelphia: Robert Bell, 1771), Vol. I, p. 41
10. "Apply yourself, without delay, to the study of the law of nature. I would recommend to your perusal Grotius, Puffendorf, Locke, Montesquieu."
    
    - Alexander Hamilton, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, "The Papers of Alexander Hamilton", Harold C. Syrett, editor, (New York: columbia University Press, 1961), Vol. I, p. 86, from "The Farmer Refuted", February 23, 1775
11. "The ... natural law was given by the Sovereign of the Universe to all mankind."
    
    - John Jay, United States Founding Father, First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, co-author of the "Federalist Papers", "The Life of John Jay", William Jay, editor, (New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833), Vol. II, p. 385, to John Murray on April 15, 1818
12. "Our laws constantly refer to this revelation and by the oath which they prescribe, we appeal to the Supreme Being so to deal with us hereafter as we observe the obligation of our oaths. The Pagan world were, and are, without the mighty influence of this principle."
    
    - Rufus King, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, "Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1821, Assembled for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution of the State of New York", (Albany: E. and E. Hosford, 1821), p.575, Rufus King, October 30, 1821
13. "The ... law established by the Creator ... Extends over the whole globe, is everywhere and at all times binding upon mankind. ... [This] is the law of God by which he makes his way known to man and is paramount to all human control."
    
    - Rufus King, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, "The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King", Charles R. King, editor, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1900), Vol. VI, p.276, to C. Gore on February 17, 1820
14. "No free government now exists in the world unless where Christianity is acknowledged and is the religion of the country. ... Christianity is part of the common law. ... Its foundations are broad and strong and deep. ... It is the purest system of morality ... and only stable support of all human laws."
    
    - Pennsylvania Supreme Court, "Updegraph v. Commonwealth", 11 Serg. & R. 393, 406, 1824
15. "Where there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community."
    
    - Benjamin Rush, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, "The Letters of Benjamin Rush", L.H. Butterfield, editor, (Princeton: Princeton University Press for the American Philosophical Society, 1951) Vol. I, p. 454, to David Ramsay, March or April 1778
16. "The transcendent excellence and boundless power of the Supreme Deity ... [has] impressed upon them those general and immutable laws that will regulate their operation through the endless ages of eternity. ... These general laws ... are denominated the laws of nature."
    
    - Zephaniah Swift, United States Founding Father, U.S. Congressman, "A System of the Laws of the State of Connecticut", (Windham: John Byrne, 1795), Vol. I, pp. 6-7
17. "Republicanism in not the phantom of a deluded imagination. On the contrary, laws, under no form of government, are better supported, liberty and property better secured, or happiness more effectually dispensed to mankind."
    
    - George Washington, United States Founding Father, "Maxims of Washington", John Frederick Schroeder, D.D., collector and arranger, 1854, p.20
18. "The "Law of nature" is a rule of conduct arising out of the natural relations of human beings established by the Creator and existing prior to any positive precept [human law]. ... These ... have been established by the Creator and are, with a peculiar felicity of expression, denominated in Scripture, "ordinances of heaven"."
    
    - Noah Webster, United States Founding Father, "An American Dictionary of the English Language", (New York: S. Converse, 1828), s.v. "law", definition #3 and #6
19. "All [laws], however, may be arranged in two different classes. 1) Divine. 2) Human. ... But it should always be remembered that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same Divine source: it is the law of God. ... Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine."
    
    - James Wilson, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, "The Works of the Honourable James Wilson", Bird Wilson, editor (Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1804), Vol I, pp. 103-105, "Of the General Principles of Law and Obligtion"
20. "In compassion to the imperfection of our internal powers, our all gracious Creator, Preserver, and Ruler has been pleased to discover and enforce his laws by a revelation given to us immediately and directly from Himself. This revelation is contained in the Holy Scriptures. The moral precepts delivered in the sacred oracles form a part of the law of nature, are of the same origin and of the same obligation, operating universally and perpetually. ... The law of nature and the law of revelation are both Divine: they flow, though in different channels, from the same adorable source. It is indeed preposterous to separate them from each other. The object of both is to discover the will of God and both are necessary for the accomplishment of that end."
    
    - James Wilson, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, "The Works of the Honourable James Wilson", Bird Wilson, editor (Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1804), Vol. I, pp. 120, 137-138, "Of the Law of Nature"
21. "God ... is the promulgator as well as the author of natural law."
    
    - James Wilson, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, "The Works of the Honourable James Wilson", Bird Wilson, editor (Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1804), Vol. I, p. 64, "Of the General Principles of Law and Obligation"

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