“THOUGH THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY, IN ALL CASES,IS TO PREVAIL, THAT WILL, TO BE RIGHTFUL MUST BE REASONABLE: THE MINORITIES POSSESS EQUAL RIGHTS, WHICH EQUAL LAWS MUST PROTECT, AND TO VIOLATE THEM WOULD BE OPPRESSION”.
President Thomas Jefferson, Inaugural address, March 1801.
“IF BY THE MERE NUMBERS A MAJORITY SHOULD DEPRIVE A MINORITY OF ANY CLEARLY WRITTEN CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT, IT MIGHT IN A MORAL POINT OF VIEW JUSTIFY REVOLUTION, CERTAINLY WOULD IF SUCH A RIGHT WERE A VITAL ONE”.
President Abraham Lincoln – Inaugural address on March 4, 1861.
“NO DEMOCRACY CAN LONG SURVIVE WHICH DOES NOT ACCEPT AS FUNDAMENTAL. TO ITS VERY EXISTENCE THE RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHTS OF MINORITIES”. President Franklin D, Roosevelt Letter to National Association For Advancement of Coloured People; June 25, 1938.
