John Witherspoon
“Is it reasonable to expect wisdom from the ignorant? Fidelity from the profligate? Assiduity and application to public business from men of a dissipated life? Is it reasonable to commit the management of public revenue to one who has wasted his own patrimony? Those, therefore, who pay no regard to religion and sobriety in the persons whom they send to the legislature of any State are guilty of the greatest absurdity and will soon pay dear for their folly.”
–John Witherspoon, A Sermon Delivered at Public Thanksgiving after Peace
(Wikipedia)
John Witherspoon (February 15, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scots Presbyterian minister and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence[1] as a representative of New Jersey. As president of the College of New Jersey (1768–94; now Princeton University), he trained many leaders of the early nation and was the only active clergyman and the only college president to sign the Declaration.
