Henry David Thoreau Quotes
There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.
Thoreau, Henry David. "Resistance to Civil Government." Æsthetic Papers, edited by Elizabeth P. Peabody, The Editor, 1849, p. 211.
Madison was defending the proposed Constitution against a vocal minority who complained that the Federal government would be dominant over the States and the large cities. Madison pointed out that it was people who fought the Revolution and sacrificed for it, not States or political entities. The Constitution was to be for the people, not the existing governmental entities. It was for Americans and not for local politicians. The “State’s Rights faction lost the debate, and the Constitution and Bill of Rights was adopted. That is why this quotation is so important. The slavery enthusiasts, racists, and others have constantly tried to diminish the Federal supremacy even to this day.
Political opponents of FDR claimed the New Deal programs would destroy individualism. That was one of the likely outcomes of the Great Depression had the New Deal programs not worked to improve the economy and bring relief to the millions of unemployed, starving and destitute people who would likely have turned to Fascism as did Italy and Germany. Roosevelt and his staff used this phrase often.
Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.
