James Jackson Quotes

To maintain this Separation (from England) is to maintain the Religion, Liberty and Property of ourselves and our Posterity; to renounce it is to Sink into the lowest meanness and Slavery. May God remove every such thought from every American Breast! Welcome first the Life of the most uncivilized Savages! Welcome Death itself and everlasting Oblivion to our race!

If [George] Washington and his compatriots had relied upon moral power only, the paw of the huge lion of Britannia would be now quietly resting on the necks of the American people.

We pledge to you the sacrifice of our lives and property in support of whatever measures the dignity and liberties of the free sovereign and independent State may seem to your wisdom to demand.

We do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power, other than that of our God and the General Government of the Congress: To the maintenance of which Independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our most Sacred Honor

This nation has never lived without independence. We cannot and shall not live without it. Either independence or death.

Union or death!

The Union - It is dear to us, but liberty is dearer.

Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.

The independence of the United States is not only more precious to ourselves but to the world than any single possession.

I can assure you, that the gallant hearts that throb beneath its sacred folds, will only be content, when this glorious banner is planted first and foremost in the coming struggle for our independence.

In January 1776, Thomas Paine issued 'Common Sense,' advocating independence from Great Britain.

I became an actor in that important drama with an inflexible resolution to persevere through the last scene, when we might be permitted and acknowledged to enjoy what we had so nobly declared we would possess, or lose with our lives - Freedom and Independence!

I am dying, but with a strong hope and persuasion that my country will gain her independence.

By the Declaration of Independence, dreaded by the foes an for a time doubtfully viewed by many of the friends of America, everything stood on a new and more respectable footing, both with regard to the operations of war or negotiations with foreign powers.

I would kill my own son for liberty and to secede from the Union.

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, that those United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.

America is not to be Rome or Britain. It is to be America.

Peace upon any other basis than national independence, peace purchased at the cost of any part of our national integrity, is fit only for slaves, and even when purchased at such a price it is a delusion, for it cannot last.

I have nothing more to offer than what General Washington would have had to offer, had he been taken by the British and put to trial by them. I have adventured my life in endeavoring to obtain the liberty of my countrymen, and am willing to sacrifice to their cause.

Our ancestors have always regarded independence as fundamental to the concept of a nation.

I would rather be a free man than be President and a slave.

We must now oppose the further encroachments of Great Britain by war, or formally annul the Declaration of Independence.

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honors that we are fighting, but from freedom—for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

Freedom is not free. It is more important to protect the sovereignty of this country than to be playing any sport or athletic event.

I apprehend, if through the interference of the general [Federal] government, the slave-trade was abolished was abolished, it would evince to the people a general disposition toward total emancipation.