7014. PROGRESS, Gothic idea of.—
The
Gothic idea that we were to look backwards
instead of forwards for the improvement of
the human mind, and to recur to the annals
of our ancestors for what is most perfect in
government, in religion and in learning, is
worthy of those bigots in religion and government,
by whom it has been recommended, and whose purposes it would answer. But it
is not an idea which this country will endure.—
To Joseph Priestley. Washington ed. iv, 318.
Ford ed., vii, 415.
(Pa.,
1800)
