Thomas Hart Benton Quotes
There are but two parties. There never have been but two parties ... founded in the radical question, whether people or property shall govern?
Thomas Hart Benton, 1782-1858, U. S. Senator & U. S. Congressman (Democrat, MO), Senate speech, 1835
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
His use of the noun “Democracy” refers not to a form of government but the specific institution of the Democratic Party. Smith, like many of the Founding Fathers was deeply suspicious of political parties. See also {614907}. Smith had written to most of the then likely Presidential candidates of both major parties asking for their position on the Mormons who were facing persecution wherever they went. None of the politicians would make any satisfactory commitments. Smith took Direct Action and became the only major religious official to have run for the Presidency of the United States until Pat Robertson tried and failed in 2000. Smith’s assassination shortly thereafter cut his run for the Presidency short before it made much headway and politically he had no chance to affect the race.
There were many in England and America who thought that political parties or “factions” as the Americans called them were inimical to republican government. Smyth disagreed and thought parties necessary for freedom and democracy. Turkey at the time was an Islamic Empire that while in decline still controlled large parts of Europe and most of North Africa. However, the Sultan had absolute control over both “church and state”. He was like the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in one person, There was no freedom of thought or speech.
Eldest son of Robert Walpole
Faction was the word Madison used for Political Party.
This is an interesting quotation because it illustrates the antipathy that Sunni Muslims hold towards Shiites and their concept of the problems of democracy. While most fundamentalist Muslims oppose democracy in principle, others, not wanting to oppose majority rule outright, have used the rationale in Iraq that the Shiites are not in the majority in the country, and that the Sunnis who controlled Iraq for so many years are the rightful rulers.
Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. The fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States. His work is strongly associated with the Midwestern United States, the region in which he was born and which he called home for most of his life. He also studied in Paris, lived in New York City for more than 20 years and painted scores of works there, summered for 50 years on Martha's Vineyard off the New England coast, and also painted scenes of the American South and West.
