Excerpt from An Oration on the Life and Character of John Quincy Adams: Delivered at Cincinnati, 25 March, 1848, Before the Bar of Hamilton County, at Their Request The truth of which I speak, is the great central principle the very heart - of all legitimate government. It expresses the whole idea of the rights of man. It is peculiarly the foun dation of our theory of government. The Declaration of Independence proclaims It. When it declares all men to be by nature free and equal. It recognises every being, bearing the human form, of whatever race, colour, or intelligence, as a child of the Omnipotent - equally the subject of his care - equally responsible to his government, and equally destined to that final judgment of all men, which shall show no respect of persons. Rational freedom, whether moral, intellectual, or personal, is the first and highest form, in which truth in government is bodied forth. Our theory contemplates this freedom in its largest sense, - and if, in practice, it shall be found not to be fully carried out, our system is so far a departure from the plat form on which it professes to stand. To say that there are exceptions to the rule, is to substitute heathen speculation for Christian law; and to adopt such exceptions in the administra tion of our government, would be to vindicate arbitrary human conventions, against the everlasting and unchanging ordinances of God. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.