In fact, Curran���s line was somewhat different. What he actually said, in a speech in Dublin on July 10, 1790, was:

�������� �� ���The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.���

And, according to Jefferson scholars there is ���no evidence to confirm that Thomas Jefferson ever said or wrote, ���Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty��� or any of its variants.���

Traditionally, the most famous use of ���Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty��� that���s included in books of quotations is from a speech made by the American Abolitionist and liberal activist Wendell Phillips on January 28, 1852.

Speaking to members of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society that day, Phillips said:

���Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either from human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.���

On Thu, 25 May 2017 20:33:10 +1200, Roderick Aldridge wrote:

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" I can't remember who said
that.

Yeah. But it���s supposed to be vigilance on OUR part, not the
Government���s part. ;)
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