Quote
By John Adams
Fear is the foundation of most governments; but is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men, in whose breasts it predominates, so stupid, and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.
- Source
- Thoughts on Government (Philadelphia: John Dunlap, 1776), 1776 · Thoughts on Government, 1776 pamphlet, p. 6
- Read at
- Internet Archive (John Carter Brown Library scan of the 1776 Dunlap pamphlet)
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About this quote
From Thoughts on Government, a letter Adams wrote in 1776 to a friend, printed as an anonymous pamphlet in Philadelphia by John Dunlap in 1776. The scan's catalog notes the letter was addressed to George Wythe of Virginia.