His face is livid, gaunt his whole body, his breath is green with gall; his tongue drips poison.
John Quincy AdamsRead
Slavery is the great and foul stain upon the North American Union.
Interpretation
Slavery represents a significant moral failure in the history of the United States.
In this quote, John Quincy Adams emphasizes the profound moral and ethical degradation that slavery inflicted on the fabric of the North American Union. He denotes slavery not just as a social issue but as a fundamental stain that tarnishes the nation's principles and values, highlighting the need for acknowledgment and rectification of this injustice.
In practice
During a lecture on American history, one might use this quote to discuss the moral implications of slavery.
His face is livid, gaunt his whole body, his breath is green with gall; his tongue drips poison.
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
It is among the evils of slavery that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?
The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.
I have no predilection for unpopularity as such, but I hold it much preferable to the popularity of a day, which perishes with the transient topic upon which it is grounded.
According to the Stoics, all vice was resolvable into folly: according to the Christian principle, it is all the effect of weakness.
If you read about millions of people doing this and millions of people doing that, history seems remote and inaccessible.
Worse still is that mankind - the non-Jewish world - learned nothing from the Holocaust: The event which had no precedent in history, which should be equal to the Revelation at Sinai in significance.
Much of how Americans have always understood their history, culture, and identity depends on positioning Europe as the 'other,' as that 'old world' against which they define themselves.
History is about great forces, yes, but also about contingency.
Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.
Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.