Noah Webster - Laws Quotes

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If the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizen will be violated or disregarded.

Noah Webster
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.

Noah Webster
The education of youth should be watched with the most scrupulous attention. [I]t is much easier to introduce and establish an effectual system... than to correct by penal statutes the ill effects of a bad system.... The education of youth... lays the foundations on which both law and gospel rest for success.

Noah Webster
The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws... The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his Apostles... This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.

Noah Webster
The Moral Law is summarily contained in the Decalogue or Ten Commandments; written by the finger of God on two tablets of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Noah Webster
Where will you find any code of laws among civilized men in which the commands and prohibitions are not founded on Christian principles? I need not specify the prohibition of murder, robbery, theft, trespass.

Noah Webster