Joseph Warren
Joseph Warren (June 11, 1741 – June 17, 1775), a Founding Father of the United States, was an American physician who was one of the most important figures in the Patriot movement in Boston during the early days of the American Revolution. His death at the Battle of Bunker Hill galvanized the rebel forces.
Quotes
[edit]Oration at Boston (March 5, 1772)
[edit]- The anniversary of the Boston Massacre
- That man is formed for social life, is an observation, which, upon our first inquiry, presents itself immediately to our view, and our reason approves that wise and generous principle which actuated the first founders of civil government — an institution, which hath its origin in the weakness of individuals, and hath for its end, the strength and security of all: and so long as the means of effecting this important end are thoroughly known, and religiously attended to, government is one of the richest blessings to mankind, and ought to be held in the highest veneration.
- The greatest and most important right of a British subject is, that he shall be governed by no laws but those to which he either in person, or by his representative, hath given his consent: and this...is the grand basis of British freedom; it is interwoven with the constitution; and whenever this is lost, the constitution must be destroyed.
- Stain not the glory of your worthy ancestors, but like them, resolve never to part with your birth-right; be wise in your deliberations, and determined in your exertions for the preservation of your liberties.
- May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name and a praise in the whole earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguished ruin!
- E. B. Williston (ed.) Eloquence of the United States, vol. 5 (1827), pp. 2–16
Letter to the Stonington Committee (August 24, 1774)
[edit]- To the Committee of Correspondence at Stonington, CT
- When liberty is the prize, who would shun the warfare? Who would stoop to waste a coward thought on life?
- 'Tis for you, brethren, for ourselves, for our united posterity, we hazard all; and permit us humbly to hope, that such a measure of vigilance, fortitude, and perseverance will still be afforded us, that, by patiently suffering and nobly daring, we may eventually secure that more precious than Hesperian fruit, the golden apples of freedom.
- R. Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph Warren (1865), p. 345
Oration at Boston (March 6, 1775)
[edit]- In commemoration of the Boston Massacre
- Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.
- E. B. Williston (ed.) Eloquence of the United States, vol. 5 (1827), pp. 30–42
Quotes about Warren
[edit]
Will ye give it up to slaves?
Will ye look for greener graves?
- Stand! the ground's your own, my braves!
Will ye give it up to slaves?
Will ye look for greener graves?
Hope ye mercy still?
What's the mercy despots feel?
Hear it in that battle-peal!
Read it on yon bristling steel!
Ask it,—ye who will.- John Pierpont, "Warren's Address to the American Soldiers" (A Song for the Table, Written for the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1825), st. 1. Airs of Palestine, and Other Poems (1840), p. 243
External links
[edit]
- Edward Bancroft Williston (ed.) Eloquence of the United States, vol. 5 (Middletown, CT: E. & H. Clark, 1827), pp. 2–16, 30–42
- Richard Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph Warren (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Co., 1865), p. 245