PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY

1. The only reliable bases for sound government and just human relations is
Natural Law
2. A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain
virtuous and morally strong.
3. The most promising method of securing a virtuous and morally stable people is
to elect virtuous leaders,
4. Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.
5. All things were created by God, therefore upon Him all mankind are equally
dependent, and to Him they are equally responsible.
6. All men are created equal.
7. The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal
things.
8. Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
9. To protect man's rights, God has revealed certain principles of divine law.
10. The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the
whole people.
11. The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become
tyrannical.
12. The United States of America shall be a republic.
13. A constitution should be structured to permanently protect the people from the
human frailties of their rulers.
14. Life and liberty are secure only so long as the right of property is secure.
15. The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free market economy and
a minimum of government regulations.
16. The government should be separated into three branches: legislative,
executive, and judicial.
17. A system of checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of
power.
18. The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the
principles of government are set forth in a written constitution.

19. Only limited and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government,
all others being retained in the people.
20. Efficiency and dispatch require government to operate according to the will of
the majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights
of the minority.
21. Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.
22. A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
23. A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general
education.
24. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.
25. "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations: entangling
alliances with none."
26. The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family;
therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity.
27. The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.
28. The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to
the entire human race.

Source: Over 150 volumes of the Founding Fathers' Writings. Compiled by the National Center for Constitutional Studies.