James Otis Quotes

7 Sourced Quotes

The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.

James Otis

Taxation without representation is tyranny.

James Otis

… [Slave] trade … is the most shocking violation of the law of nature, has a direct tendency to diminish … liberty, and makes every dealer in it a tyrant, from the director of an African company to the petty chapman [peddler]…. It is a clear truth, that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.

James Otis

Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle!

James Otis

Where liberty is, there is my country.

Ubi libertas ibi patria

James Otis

An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.

James Otis

ALL PRECEDENTS ARE UNDER THE CONTROUL OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW … No Acts of Parliament can establish such a writ [writ of assistance enabling British search of homes for no reason]: … it would be void, "AN ACT AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION IS VOID." Vid. Viner. But … special writs may be granted on oath and probable suspicion.

James Otis

James Otis

James Otis

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Born: February 5, 1725

Died: May 23, 1783 (aged 58)

Bio: James Otis, Jr. was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, and an early advocate of the Patriot views against British policy that led to the American Revolution.

James Otis on Wikipedia

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