Though Lafayette, himself a Roman Catholic, might conceivably have said something translatable as this, the earliest source yet found for this is an anti-catholic pamphlet The Future Conflict : An Address, (1878), by Order of the American Union, p. 20, without any citation of original sources. It has also been quoted as: "If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, they will fall by the hands of the clergy."
Disputed
Letter to a friend in Virginia (1798); cited in The Great Quotations, compiled by George Seldes (1960)
“Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.”
The Liberty Song (1768).
p, 125
Other writings, The Paradoxes of Legal Science (1928)
1770s, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
Variant: The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.
Source: Player Piano (1952), Chapter 9 (p. 92)
1920s, The American Soldier (1920)
“Private property destroys liberty and equality.”
Source: Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters (1857), p. 323
Source: White-Jacket (1850), Ch. 36
§ 8
1780s, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments (1785)
Context: What influence in fact have ecclesiastical establishments had on Civil Society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the Civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny: in no instance have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not.
