The Voices of Liberty CD Disk-2
The Voices of Liberty CD Disk-2
Give Me Liberty
Listen to Clip
This speech was given March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, and is credited with having singlehandedly convinced the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War. In attendance were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Reportedly, the crowd, upon hearing the speech, jumped up and shouted, “To Arms! To Arms!”
Thoughts on Government
Listen to Clip
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826)
In full “Thoughts on Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies”, was written by John Adams during the spring of 1776 in response to a resolution of the North Carolina Provincial Congress which requested Adams’ suggestions on the establishment of a new government and the drafting of a constitution. Adams says that “Politics is the Science of human Happiness -and the Felicity of Societies depends on the Constitutions of Government under which they live.” Many of the ideas put forth in Adams’ essay were adopted in December 1776 by the framers of North Carolina’s first constitution.
The document is notable in that Adams sketches out the three branches of American government: the executive, judicial, and legislative branches, all with a system of checks and balances. Furthermore, in response to Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Adams rejects the idea of a single legislative body, fearing it may become tyrannical or self-serving (as in the case of Holland at the time). Thus, Adams also conceived of the idea that two legislative bodies should serve as checks to the power of the other.
Washington’s Farewell Address
Listen to Clip
George Washington (February 22, 1732 – February 11, 1731)
A letter written by the first American President, George Washington, to “The People of the United States of America”.[1] Washington wrote the letter near the end of his second term as President, before his retirement to his home Mount Vernon. Originally published in Daved Claypole’s American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796, under the title “The Address of General Washington To The People of The United States on his declining of the Presidency of the United States,” the letter was almost immediately reprinted in newspapers across the country and later in a pamphlet form.[2] The work was later named a “Farewell Address,” as it was Washington’s valedictory after 20 years of service to the new nation. It is a classic statement of republicanism, warning Americans of the political dangers they can and must avoid if they are to remain true to their values.
Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address
Listen to Clip
Thomas Jefferson (April 13 1743 – July 4, 1826)
Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office on March 4, 1801, at a time when partisan strife between the Democratic-Republican and Federalist parties was growing to alarming proportions. Jefferson was sworn in by Chief Justice John Marshall at the new Capitol in Washington DC. In contrast to the preceding president John Adams, Jefferson exhibited a dislike of formal etiquette. Unlike Washington, who arrived at his inauguration in a stagecoach drawn by six cream colored horses, Jefferson arrived alone on horseback without guard or escort. He was dressed in plain attire and, after dismounting, retired his own horse to the nearby stable.
The Mission Of America and The Right of Petition
Listen to Clip
John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848)
An American statesman who served as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He also served as a diplomat, a Senator and member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties.
In his biography, Samuel Flagg Bemis argues that Adams was able to: “gather together, formulate, and practice the fundamentals of American foreign-policy – self-determination, independence, noncolonization, nonintervention, nonentanglement in European politics, Freedom of the Seas, [and] freedom of commerce.”
Quincy Adams was the son of former President John Adams and Abigail Adams. As a diplomat, Adams played an important role in negotiating key treaties, most notably the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. As Secretary of State, he negotiated with Britain over the United States’ northern border with Canada, negotiated with Spain the annexation of Florida, and drafted the Monroe Doctrine. Historians agree he was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history.
Featured here are two short speeches that exemplify the his character.