Quote
By James Monroe
Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties.
- Source
- Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817
- Read at
- The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara
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About this quote
From President Monroe's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817. He had just argued that the people are the source of the government's power and that it is only when they become ignorant and corrupt that they cannot exercise it, and he named an informed public as the defense against that.