
“Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.”
No. 3
1770s, Novanglus essays (1774–1775)
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John Adams 202
2nd President of the United States 1735–1826Related quotes


1850s, Speech at Peoria, Illinois (1854)

Notes for an oration at Braintree (Spring 1772)
1770s
James Burnham (1987) The Machiavellians, Defenders of Freedom. p. 280

“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.”
"Circular to the States" (8 June 1783) http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch7s5.html
1780s

Article 15
Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)

Source: Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), Chapter 2

“Only powerful people have liberty.”
As quoted in "The Economist" (8 October 2011), p. 67

1920s, Ordered Liberty and World Peace (1924)