Barbara Jordan

"Earlier today we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. ‘We the people.’ It is a very eloquent beginning. But, when that document was completed on the seventeent…"

"Jordan's Statement on the Articles of Impeachment During the Nixon Impeachment Hearings in Text and Audio from AmericanRhetoric.com"

"It was immigration that taught us, it does not matter where you came from, or who your parents were. What counts is who you are."

"Jordan's 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address in Text and Audio from AmericanRhetoric.com"

"My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."

"This country can ill afford to continue to function using less than half of its human resources, less than half its kinetic energy, less than half its brain power."

"You need a core inside you—a core that directs everything you do. You confer with it for guidance. It is not negotiable."

"Those who hold the public trust must adhere to the highest ethical standards there are. The job requires it, and the public must demand it."