Samuel Adams Quotes
It bodes very ill for government when men are exalted to places of high trust through their own solicitations. He only fills a place with dignity who is invited to it by his fellow citizens from the experience they have had of his adequate abilities.
Adams, Samuel. Letter to Elbridge Gerry, 27 Nov. 1780. The Writings of Samuel Adams, edited by Harry Alonzo Cushing, vol. 4, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908.
Upon learning that his son, John Quincy Adams, had been chosen President of the United States, the former President remarked:
From time to time, the assessment of a prospective Supreme Court justice has depended on an attempt to move the court in a particular direction or to prevent that. This is as opposed to the issue of the competence of the nominee. In most cases, such nominees may not have been the best qualified but they have been extremely competent. In a few cases, such as that of Justice Clarence Thomas, the justice was mediocre and inexperienced at best, but his virtues were his race and his total ideological consistency. Most attorneys can predict his vote in advance. He has never asked a question in oral arguments. See {623452} .
2nd Viscount Melbourne. The pressure for appointments to key positions has always been a problem in modern America. What is surprising in this quotation is that the exact same problems existed in a constitutional monarchy in 19th century England. Note the formality of the form of address in letters to the Queen. Lamb refers to himself in the third person by his aristocratic title, “Lord Melboure”, rather than the first person “I” which would have been too familiar in the address of the monarch. Many English communications with the King or Queen, even in modern times, is this archaic form of address.
2nd Baronet Peel. He was then the Chief Secretary of Ireland and only 26 years of age. Patronage jobs, cronyism, and corruption was then extreme in Irish politics.
This early commitment to an audit trail was actually written by presidential assistant Louis McHenry Howe in making suggestions for the speech.
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to his fellow Founding Father, President John Adams.
