"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Collected Works of Franklin edited by Jared Sparks, in volume VII there is a letter that Franklin wrote to his friend David Hume 27 September, 1760, in which he says, in response to Hume's praise of the Historical Review, that it was "not written by me, nor any part of it." So I guess the adage of, "if a lie is repeated enough, it will be perceived as the truth" is correct? So we continue to parrot this mis-truth... When in fact: The Founding Fathers knew from experience that Congress could not keep secrets. In 1776, Benjamin Franklin and his four colleagues on the Committee of Secret Correspondence unanimously concluded that they could not tell the Continental Congress about covert assistance being provided by France to the American Revolution, because "we find by fatal experience that Congress consists of too many members to keep secrets." Benjamin Franklin also wrote: "Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."