If we are not represented, we are slaves.
Interpretation
Representation is crucial for freedom and autonomy.
James Otis highlights the importance of representation in governance and society, suggesting that without a voice or representation, individuals are reduced to a subservient status akin to slavery. This quote underscores the idea that active participation and representation in decision-making processes are essential for maintaining one's freedom and dignity.
In practice
During a speech advocating for civil rights, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need for representation in government.
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.
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.
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.
Now, one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house.
It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.
An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.
How can a doctor judge a woman's sanity by merely bidding her good morning and refusing to hear her pleas for release? Even the sick ones know it is useless to say anything, for the answer will be that it is their imagination.
I always felt the true test of a man's character is how he treats people he can't use.
A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
I have no idea where I'm going but here's the real question: What am I doing here in the first place?
If we don't have access to facts, we can't trust each other. Without trust, there's no law. Without law, there's no democracy.
I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.
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