Our rights and freedoms

The Fourth of July holiday reminds us of all we have to appreciate as Americans.

Our freedoms of the press, religion, speech, assembly, petition, the rights to bear arms, equal justice, and own private property are some privileges Americans enjoy under the Bill of Rights.

They are privileges many have fought to protect and a way of life millions have left their native countries in search of.

In light of Independence Day, we wanted to share some famous quotes from our country's founding fathers.

George Washington

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. "

"It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it."

"Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession."

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."

"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all."

Thomas Jefferson

"Excessive taxation will carry reason & reflection to every man's door, and particularly in the hour of election." - Letter to John Taylor, Nov. 26, 1798

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. "

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive."

"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."

Abraham Lincoln

"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." (Gettysburg Address)

"Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties."

"The legitimate object of government is 'to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves'."

"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."

"Truth is generally the best vindication against slander."

"When someone asked Abraham Lincoln, after he was elected president, what he was going to do about his enemies, he replied, I am going to destroy them. I am going to make them my friends."

"To give the victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary."

"In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed."

"If I care to listen to every criticism, let alone act on them, then this shop may as well be closed for all other businesses. I have learned to do my best, and if the end result is good then I do not care for any criticism, but if the end result is not good, then even the praise of ten angels would not make the difference.No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."

Thomas Paine

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

"I dream of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth."

- Editorial board