George Bancroft (1800-1891)

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George Bancroft (1800-1891) The Office of the
People (1835)
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• George Bancroft
• The Office of the People (1835)
• Truth is one. It never contradicts itself One
  truth cannot contradict another truth. Hence
  truth is a bond of union. But error not only
  contradicts truth, but may contradict itself so
  that there may be many errors, and each at
  variance with the rest. Truth is therefore of
  necessity an element of harmony error as
  necessarily an element of discord. Thus there can
  be no continuing universal judgment but a right
  one. Men cannot agree in an absurdity neither
  can they agree in a falsehood.
• For who are the best judges in matters of taste?
  Do you think the cultivated individual?
  Undoubtedly not but the collective mind. The
  public is wiser than the wisest critic.
• A government of equal rights mustrest upon the
  mind not wealth, not brute force, the sum of the
  moral intelligence of the community should rule
  the State.
• The duty of America is to secure the culture and
  the happiness of the masses by their reliance on
  themselves.
• The government by the people is in very truth
  the strongest government in the world. Discarding
  the implements of terror, it dares to rule by
  moral force, and has its citadel in the heart.
• the measure of the progress of civilization is
  the progress of the people.