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RE: [Marxism] US support for Bolivar query (cont.)
John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821 on the subject of foreign interventions:
http://www.fff.org/freedom/1001e.asp
AND NOW, FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN, if the wise and learned philosophers of
the elder world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the
discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of
Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed
to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind?
Let our answer be this: America, with the same voice which spoke herself
into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable
rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government.
America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has
invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of
honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity.
She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often
to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and
of equal rights.
She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single
exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting
and maintaining her own.
She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when
conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last
vital drop that visits the heart.
She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of
that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power,
and emerging right.
Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be
unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.
But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.
She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.
She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and
the benignant sympathy of her example.
She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own,
were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve
herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and
intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the
colors and usurp the standard of freedom.
The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from
liberty to force....
She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the
ruler of her own spirit....
[America's] glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march
of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield
is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this
has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind
would permit, her practice
http://www.fff.org/freedom/1001e.asp
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- Thread context:
- [Marxism] US support for Bolivar query (cont.),
Debordagoria Fri 10 Dec 2004, 17:42 GMT
- [Marxism] Destroying Anata/Anathoth and Falluja/Pumbeditha,
Yoshie Furuhashi Fri 10 Dec 2004, 17:42 GMT
- [Marxism] CWA-SEIU-IBT proposals; WBAI transcript,
acpollack2@xxxxxxxx Fri 10 Dec 2004, 17:23 GMT
- [Marxism] Patrick Cockburn's take on the Shia, the insurgents, and the elections,
Fred Feldman Fri 10 Dec 2004, 17:11 GMT
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