Quotes About Authority

Rockefeller was sensitive about adults who behaved in a high-handed fashion toward him. Having assumed so much responsibility at home, he now thought of himself as a mature person.

If Washington was the father of the country and Madison the father of the Constitution, then Alexander Hamilton was surely the father of the American government.

the government must degenerate either into an absolute and despotic monarchy or a tyrannical aristocracy.

In a moment of acute anxiety a year earlier, John Adams had wondered what would happen if "the multitude, the vulgar, the herd, the rabble" maintained such open defiance of authority.

While extremely powerful, they were also inhibited in exercising that power.

Even amid an insurrection that he supported, he fretted about the damage to constituted authority and worried about mob rule. Like

He was also wary of upsetting the existing social hierarchy.

The next day, Cortelyou put $25 million in government funds at Pierpont's disposal

Still, he wondered whether republican government could withstand popular frenzy and instill the deep respect for law and authority that obtained in monarchical systems and that would safeguard liberties.

He was the embodiment of power and purpose.

his massive shadow dominated his son's life.

It was the same act of ventriloquism: the State Department talked, and Tom Lamont moved his lips.

For Hamilton, his encounters with the two obdurate generals strengthened his preference for strict hierarchy and centralized command as the only way to accomplish things—a view that was to find its political equivalent in his preference for concentrated federal power instead of authority dispersed among the states.

He was respectful toward his superiors but never awed by them and was always aware of their shortcomings.

He had long bewailed his inability to delegate authority—"It is my nature and I cannot help it

he would reorganize bankrupt roads and transfer control to himself.

It is hard to exaggerate the power that Pierpont accrued.

You see, this scheme is bound to work. It means an absolute control by us of the oil business.

Nevertheless, the general public came away with the impression that John D. was pulling the strings.

He now subjected the Articles of Confederation to a searching critique. He thought the sovereignty of the states only enfeebled the union.

He favored granting Congress supreme power in war, peace, trade, finance, and foreign affairs.

For a time, they were held back by Benjamin Brewster, and Rockefeller, unwilling to move without a consensus, yielded against his better judgment.

42 The government was obviously withdrawing its support.

Rockefeller reviewed every bill that arrived at home and often patrolled the hallways, turning off gaslights.