If the General Government should be left dependent on the State Legislatures, it would be happy for us if we had never met in this room.
John DickinsonRead
No free people ever existed, or can ever exist, without keeping the purse strings in their own hands. Where this is the case, they have a constitutional check upon the administration, which may thereby by brought into order without violence. But when such a power is not lodged in the people, oppression proceeds uncontrolled in its career, till the governed, transported into rage, seek redress in the midst of blood and confusion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of financial control for a free society to prevent oppression and promote order.
John Dickinson's quote reflects on the fundamental nature of freedom in society, asserting that true liberty cannot exist without the control of financial resources by the people. He argues that when citizens maintain oversight over their finances, they can hold their government accountable, ensuring it operates without resorting to violence. However, when this control is absent, it leads to unchecked oppression, ultimately causing the governed to respond with anger and chaos in search of justice.
Themes
FreedomControlOppressionGovernmentFinance
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be cited during a political rally to emphasize the importance of financial accountability in government.
More from John Dickinson
All quotes →Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.
John DickinsonRead
Our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of pre-existing rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals; but come from the King of Kings and the Lord of all the earth.
John DickinsonRead
As in forming a political society, each individual contributes some of his rights, in order that he may, from a common stock of rights, derive greater benefits, than he could from merely his own; so, in forming a confederation, each political society should contribute such a share of their rights, as will, from a common stock of these rights, produce the largest quantity of benefits for them.
John DickinsonRead
The rights essential to happiness. . . . We claim them from a higher source - from the King of kings and Lord of all the earth.
John DickinsonRead
Let our government be like that of the solar system. Let the general government be like the sun and the states the planets, repelled yet attracted, and the whole moving regularly and harmoniously in several orbits.
John DickinsonRead
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