25 July 2024

Happy Birthday, Knox

Stuart, Henry Knox, 1806


They start as from a dream, and ask what has been the Cause of our delusion? What is to afford us security against the violence of lawless men? Our government must be braced, changed, or altered to secure our lives and property. We imagined that the mildness of our government and the virtue of the people were so correspondent, that we were not as other nations requiring brutal force to support the laws—But we find that we are men, actual men, possessing all the turbulent passions belonging to that animal and that we must have a government proper and adequate for him ...

Henry Knox, born on this day in 1750, from a letter to George Washington, October 23, 1786

No comments:

Post a Comment