“A people ... who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything.” - George Washington
“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government.”- Thomas Jefferson
“Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.” - Thomas Jefferson
“To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much – in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill – is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” - Thomas Jefferson
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." - Patrick Henry
“[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. … Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” - James Madison
“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation.”- James Madison
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” - Benjamin Franklin
“It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” - Samuel Adams
