Edward Rutledge: Mr. Adams is now calling our black slaves "Americans." Are they, now?
John Adams: Yes, they are. They're people, and they're here. If there's any other requirement, I've never heard of it.
Edward Rutledge: They are here, yes. But they are not people, sir, they are property.
Thomas Jefferson: No, sir, they are people who are being treated as property!
[After hearing Dickinson bang on a desk.]
Benjamin Franklin: Please, Mr. Dickinson, but must you start banging? How is a man to sleep?
John Dickinson: Forgive me, Doctor Franklin, but must you start speaking? How is a man to stay awake?
John Dickinson: We'll promise to be quiet, sir. I'm sure everyone prefers that you remain asleep.
Benjamin Franklin: If I'm to hear myself called an Englishman, sir, I assure I prefer I'd remained asleep.
John Dickinson: What's so terrible about being called an Englishman? The English don't seem to mind.
Benjamin Franklin: Nor would I, were I given the full rights of an Englishman. But to call me one without those rights is like calling an ox a bull. He's thankful for the honor, but he'd much rather have restored what's rightfully his.
John Dickinson: When did you first notice they were missing, sir?
Benjamin Franklin: Revolutions come into this world like bastard children, Mr. Dickinson; half improvised and half compromised.
John Dickinson: Mr. Jefferson, I have very little interest in your paper, as there's no doubt in my mind that we've all but heard the last of it, but I am curious about one thing. Why do you refer to King George as a... Tyrant?
Thomas Jefferson: Because he *is* a tyrant.
John Dickinson: I remind you, Mr. Jefferson, that this "tyrant" is still your king.
Thomas Jefferson: When a king becomes a tyrant, he thereby breaks the contract binding his subjects to him.
John Dickinson: How so?
Thomas Jefferson: By taking away their rights.
John Dickinson: Rights that came from him in the first place?
Thomas Jefferson: All except one. The right to be free comes from nature.
John Dickinson: And are we not free, Mr. Jefferson?
Thomas Jefferson: Homes entered without warrant, citizens arrested without charge, and in many places, free assembly itself denied.
John Dickinson: No one approves of such things, but these are dangerous times.
Benjamin Franklin: Careful, Mr. Dickinson. Those who would give up their liberty in order to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
John Hancock: I'm concerned over the continued absence of one-thirteenth of this Congress. Where is New Jersey?
John Dickinson: Somewhere between New York and Pennsylvania.
John Hancock: Thank you very much.
John Adams: At a stage in life when other men prosper, I'm reduced to living in Philadelphia!
Chosen answer: By "the British Crown" he meant the king. By "the British half Crown" he was just referring to the money in use by the British at the time.
papajim
Exactly contrasting loyalty to the country with loyalty to profit.