This general spirit existing in the American nation is not new among them; it is, and ever has been their established principle, their confirmed persuasion; it is their nature and their doctrine. You might destroy their towns, and cut them off from the superfluities but they prefer poverty with liberty, to golden chains and sordid affluence. ‘Tis liberty to liberty engaged, that they will defend themselves, their families and their country. In this great cause they are immovably allied. It is the alliance of God and nature—immutable, eternal, fixed as the firmament of heaven! — William Pitt, in the House of Lords, December 20, 1775