Where there is no free agency, there can be no morality. Where there is no temptation, there can be little claim to virtue. Where the routing is rigorously proscribed by law, the law, and not the man, must have the credit of the conduct. William Hickling Prescott Morality, when vigorously alive, sees farther than intellect. British historian James Anthony Froude Veracity is the heart of morality.
Character is much easier kept than recovered.
The American Crisis, no. As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. The only people who can afford the great luxury of a civil government strictly limited by law are those people who recognize and are willing to live by their natural, God-imposed obligations and responsibilities under the Ten Commandments. There can be no high civility without a deep morality.