Pennsylvania Constitution (1776), Declaration of Rights http://www.pahouse.com/pa_const.htm; this may be based upon principles stated by Penn, but earlier renditions in this form have not been located.
Disputed
Context: All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent; no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishment or modes of worship.
“Our Traders in MEN (an unnatural commodity!) must know the wickedness of that SLAVE-TRADE, if they attend to reasoning, or the dictates of their own hearts; and such as shun and stiffle all these, wilfully sacrifice Conscience, and the character of integrity to that golden Idol.”
1770s, African Slavery in America (March 1775)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Thomas Paine 262
English and American political activist 1737–1809Related quotes
Attributed but thus far unverified
Source: A History of Economic Thought (1939), Chapter VI, Marx, p. 266
To which may be replied,
1770s, African Slavery in America (March 1775)
1948, Address to All Pakistan Muslim Youth Convention at Karachi, quoted in Speeches, Messages and Statements of Mohtarama Fatima Jinnah, p. 5
Virginia Bill of Rights, Article 16 (12 June 1776); Henry was on the committee which drafted the Virginia constitution and he supported this Bill, but it is not clear to what extent he was the author of any portion of it. This statement is also sometimes misattributed to James Madison who quoted it in his arguments for the United States Bill of Rights.
Misattributed
Article 16
Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776)
“Socialism urged to find dictator,” Berkeley Daily Gazette (Nov. 30, 1927)
1890s