I pray God I may never be brought to the melancholy trial, but if ever I should, it will be then known how far I can reduce to practice, principles, which I know to be founded in truth.

James Otis

Categorized in : Practice Trials Principles

The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.

sacrifice men country

Can there be any liberty where property is taken away without con... by James Otis

Can there be any liberty where property is taken away without consent?

liberty freedom taken

Taxation without representation is tyranny. by James Otis

Taxation without representation is tyranny.

taxation-without-representation tyrants tyranny

The colonists are by the law of nature free-born, as indeed all man are, white or black...It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.

law white men

The supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property, without his consent in person, or by representation.

consent persons men

[Slave] trade ... is the most shocking violation of the law of nature, has a direct tendency to diminish ... liberty, and makes every dealer in it a tyrant, from the director of an African company to the petty chapman [peddler].... It is a clear truth, that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.

tyrants law men

There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the Law of Nature and the grant of God Almighty, who has given to all men a natural right to be free, and they have it ordinarily in their power to make themselves so, if they please.

freedom law men

I am forced to get my living by the labour of my hand; and the sweat of my brow... for bitter bread, earned under the frowns of some who have no natural or divine right to be above me, and entirely owe their grandeur and honor to grinding the faces of the poor.

divine-right sweat hands

Every man may reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread terror and desolation around him, until the trump of the archangel shall excite different emotions in his soul.

tyrants soul men

Government is founded not on force, as was the theory of Hobbes; nor on compact, as was the theory of Locke and of the revolution of 1688; nor on property, as was the assertion of Harrington. It springs from the necessities of our nature, and has an everlasting foundation in the unchangeable will of God.

foundation government spring

Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty, is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ of assistance, if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege.

law house men

The people's safety is the law of God. by James Otis

The people's safety is the law of God.

safety law people

Let the consequences be what they will, I am determined to procee... by James Otis

Let the consequences be what they will, I am determined to proceed.

i-am-determined consequence determined

Every British Subject born on the continent of America, or in any other of the British dominions, is by the law of God and nature, by the common law, and by act of parliament, (exclusive of all charters from the crown) entitled to all the natural, essential, inherent and inseparable rights of our fellow subjects in Great- Britain.

rights law america

An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural e... by James Otis

An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.

void constitution natural

But I think I can sincerely declare that I cheerfully submit myself to every odious name for conscience' sake; and from my soul I despise all those whose guilt, malice, or folly has made them my foes.

soul names thinking

Every one with this writ may be a tyrant in a legal manner, also may control, imprison, or murder any one within the realm.

tyrants murder may

And I take this opportunity to declare, that... I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is. It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary power, - the most destructive of English liberty and the fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in an English law book.

opportunity book hands

I will to my dying day oppose with all the powers and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is.

slavery dying hands

One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle.

liberty house men