Richard Henry Lee letter to Samuel Adams, October 5, 1787:
“The people of the United States “contended for free government in the fullest, clearest, and strongest sense. That they had no idea of being brought under despotic rule under the notion of “Strong government,” or in form of elective despotism: Chains being still Chains, whether made of gold or iron.”
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1784:
“elective despotism is not the government we fought for”
“It is not because a part of the government is elective that makes it less a despotism if the persons so elected possess afterwards… unlimited powers”
— Thomas Payne, The Rights of Man, chapter 4, 1791
“the idea is quite unfounded that on entering into society we give up any natural rights.”
– Thomas Jefferson letter to F. W. Gilmer 1816.
“A man is none the less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years. Neither are a people any the less slaves because permitted periodically to choose new masters. What makes them slaves is the fact that they now are, and are always hereafter to be, in the hands of men whose power over them is, and always is to be, absolute and irresponsible.”
— Lysander Spooner, No Treason:The Constitution of no Authority, page 24. 1870
“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.”
― Mahatma Gandhi, Anthropology of Morality in Melanesia and Beyond, The. Anthropology and Cultural History in Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place; it is the moral duty of individuals to uphold what is right”
— Senator Margaret Chase Smith, June 1, 1950 Declaration of Conscience Speech
