The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.

Samuel Adams’s statement frames political liberty as both a priceless inheritance and an active obligation. By pairing “worth defending against all hazards” with “our duty to defend them,” the quote shifts freedom from a passive condition to a civic practice requiring vigilance and sacrifice. The emphasis on “civil constitution” underscores that rights depend on institutions, laws, and public habits—not merely sentiment. Read in the context of revolutionary-era rhetoric, it also functions as a moral argument for resistance: attacks on constitutional liberties demand a response, even when defense is costly or risky. The line distills a republican ethic of citizenship grounded in responsibility rather than entitlement.