“America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government.” — John Quincy Adams, Address to the U.S. House of Representatives, July 4, 1821.
This Independence Day address by Secretary of State Adams is the origin of his legendary foreign‑policy doctrine: “But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.” In this speech, Adams warned that if the young republic involved itself in Europe’s endless wars, it would cease to be the guardian of liberty and instead become an imperial dictatress, ruling not by principle but by force.
