Quote
By George Washington
’Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.
- Source
- Farewell Address, September 19, 1796 · The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 20, pp. 703-722
- Read at
- Founders Online, National Archives
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About this quote
Washington's Farewell Address, dated September 19, 1796. The text here follows the Washington Papers' transcription, which keeps his abbreviations and spelling, so it differs slightly from the printed version. Earlier drafts were written by Madison in 1792 and Hamilton in 1796.