Who would be cleared by their Un-American Committees? Not Washington, who was a rebel. Not Jefferson, who wrote that all men are created equal and whose motto was ‘rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.’ Not Garrison, who publicly burned the Constitution. Not Lincoln, who admonished us to have malice toward none, charity toward all. Not Justice Holmes, who said that our Constitution is an experiment and that while that experiement is being made ‘we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death.’
— Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998), American educator
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