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“Proper republics, by contrast, depended on widespread civic virtue, citizen participation, and patriotism. In the best of such regimes, common folk informed themselves about politics, especially by reading newspapers; deliberated in good faith with their fellow citizens; voted in free and fair elections, with the aim of choosing the most able and virtuous; willingly obeyed democratically enacted laws, including tax laws; participated in juries and militias when summoned; and staffed elective and appointed positions of public service when called to do so by their fellow citizens.”
― Akhil Reed Amar, The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840

“FRANKLIN AND WASHINGTON WERE AMERICA’S two greatest founding figures, and it is remarkable that Washington’s de facto farewell message, when he passed away in 1799 at his Mount Vernon home, was so similar in substance—though not at all in tone—to Franklin’s parting soliloquy. Metaphorically, both men died with abolition and emancipation on their lips. Rosebud. Franklin envisioned virtuous public action: Congress should pass laws freeing all slaves. Washington embodied virtuous private action: slaveholders should take actions freeing their own slaves, just as he was doing on his deathbed.”
― Akhil Reed Amar, The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840

“When America’s first census was taken in 1790, no slaves were recorded in Massachusetts. Somewhere, the spirit of James Otis was smiling.”
― Akhil Reed Amar, The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840

“When out of power, Jefferson talked about judicial independence, but when in power, he never named a great and independent jurist to the bench because he was not, in truth, looking for judicial independence and excellence. He sought party loyalism.”
― Akhil Reed Amar, The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840