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Quotational Therapy: Part 33 -- John Adams.

John Adams, Inaugural Address-

When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present number, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.

-John Adams, March 4, 1797.

And that uncertainty is something that we take for granted. It took nothing less than a series of miracles for the infant America to seize-- and maintain-- its independence.

The U.S. Constitution was largely an experimental document. It followed on the heels of the defunct Articles of Confederation. While optimism certainly abounded, there were likely few who genuinely believed the American experiment would last as long as it has.

We should never forget that out of uncertainty, great things can materialize. The Middle East is in a transitional phase today. We don't know if there are any Adamses and Jeffersons and Washingtons and Hamiltons to guide the region through the uncertainty, but we do know that defending the 20th century status quo in that region was and is a recipe for perpetual turmoil and strife.

Previous Quotational Therapy Session:

Thomas Paine.

The right quote can be therapeutic, so tune in to WILLisms.com for quotational therapy every Monday and Friday.

Posted by Will Franklin · 1 August 2005 11:23 AM

Comments

Posted by: Am I A Pundit Now? at August 1, 2005 12:31 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at August 1, 2005 03:52 PM