In honor of Presidents Day (2-16-15).
GEORGE WASHINGTON (First President of the United States):
“There was not a member of the Constitutional Convention who had the least objection to what is contended for by the advocates for a Bill of Rights and trial by jury.”
JOHN ADAMS (Second President of the United States):
“Representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty. Without them we have no other fortification against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swine and hounds.”
THOMAS JEFFERSON (Third President of the United States):
“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.”
“Trial by jury is part of that bright constellation which leads to peace, liberty, and safety.”
JAMES MADISON (Fourth President of the United States):
“Trial by jury in civil cases is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as any one of the pre-existent rights of nature.”
