Today’s passel of presidential quotes from WIST.
A government of laws, and not of men.
¶ John Adams (1735-1826) US President (1797-1801)
“Novanglus” #7, Boston Gazette (6 Mar 1775)
Adams credited the line to James Harrington (1611-77), who wrote of “the empire of laws and not of men” (The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656)). Adams later used the term in the Massachusetts Constitution, Bill of Rights, article 30 (1780).
We stand today on the edge of a new frontier — the frontier of the 1960s, a frontier of unknown opportunities and paths, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats. … The new frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises — it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them.
¶ John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Presidential nomination acceptance speech, Los Angeles (15 Jul 1960)
I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people.
¶ Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) US President (1933-1945)
Presidential nomination acceptance speech, Chicago (2 Jul 1932)
We must act upon the motto of all for each and each for all. There must be ever present in our minds the fundamental truth that in a republic such as ours the only safety is to stand neither for nor against any man because he is rich or because he is poor, because he is engaged in one occupation or another, because he works with his brains or because he works with his hands. We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.
¶ Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909)
Speech, New York State Agricultural Association, Syracuse (7 Sep 1903)
Full text.
Every segment of our population and every individual has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.
¶ Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-53)
State of the Union Message (5 Jan 1949)