We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions… — John Adams

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

1798
★ 5.3
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Adams, John. Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts. 11 Oct. 1798.