---
title: "It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their… — John Acton Quote #18 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts of the Stat… — a quote by John Acton."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts of the State - ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers, and hidden among Latin folios-burst forth like a conqueror upon the world they were destined to transform, under the title of the Rights of Man...and the principle gained ground, that a nation can never abandon its fate to an authority it cannot control.

[John Acton](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton)\#18[WhatsApp (opens in a new tab)](https://wa.me/?text=%E2%80%9CIt%20was%20from%20America%20that%20the%20plain%20ideas%20that%20men%20ought%20to%20mind%20their%20business%2C%20and%20that%20the%20nation%20is%20responsible%20to%20Heaven%20for%20the%20acts%20of%20the%20State%20-%20ideas%20long%20locked%20in%20the%20breast%20of%20solitary%20thinkers%2C%20and%20hidden%20among%20Latin%20folios-burst%20forth%20like%20a%20conqueror%20upon%20the%20world%20they%20were%20destined%20to%20transform%2C%20under%20the%20title%20of%20the%20Rights%20of%20Man...and%20the%20principle%20gained%20ground%2C%20that%20a%20nation%20can%20never%20abandon%20its%20fate%20to%20an%20authority%20it%20cannot%20control.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20John%20Acton%20https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Acton%2F18%2F)[X (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%E2%80%9CIt%20was%20from%20America%20that%20the%20plain%20ideas%20that%20men%20ought%20to%20mind%20their%20business%2C%20and%20that%20the%20nation%20is%20responsible%20to%20Heaven%20for%20the%20acts%20of%20the%20State%20-%20ideas%20long%20locked%20in%20the%20breast%20of%20solitary%20thinkers%2C%20and%20hidden%20among%20Latin%20folios-burst%20forth%20like%20a%20conqueror%20upon%20the%20world%20they%20were%20destined%20to%20transform%2C%20under%20the%20title%20of%20the%20Rights%20of%20Man...and%20the%20principle%20gained%20ground%2C%20that%20a%20nation%20can%20never%20abandon%20its%20fate%20to%20an%20authority%20it%20cannot%20control.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20John%20Acton&url=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Acton%2F18%2F)[Facebook (opens in a new tab)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Acton%2F18%2F)

## More from John Acton

1. > Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher politica…

[Permalink to quote \#17](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/17/ "Permalink to quote 17")
2. > The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carr…

[Permalink to quote \#19](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/19/ "Permalink to quote 19")
3. > It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is ca…

[Permalink to quote \#16](https://quotesby.net/John-Acton/16/ "Permalink to quote 16")

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