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Theodore Parker. 1810-1860

There is what I call the American idea. . . . This idea demands, as the proximate organization thereof, a democracy,—that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God. For shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.[639:1]

Speech at the N. E. Antislavery Convention, Boston, May 29, 1850.