"Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem"
The official state motto of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (and UMass Amherst) is usually translated as "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty."
The literal translation goes a bit further. 17th century English statesman Algernon Sidney opposed the reign of Charles II (the last King Charles before the current one, if you're curious), espousing the view that absolute monarchy is a great political evil. His radically anti-monarchical work Discourses Concerning Government was written during the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-1681 and is a defense of the principles of republicanism and popular government.
In 1683, Sidney was arrested and accused of plotting to assassinate the king and the Duke of York as part of the Rye House Plot, despite there being no real evidence against him. A draft of the secret, unpublished manuscript of Discourses was seized during his arrest and formed the foundation of the Crown's case against him. Following a rigged trial, a jury stacked by the king with royalists convicted him of treason and he was beheaded.
… we live in an age that maketh truth pass for treason; I dare not say anything contrary unto it, and the ears of those that are about me will probably be found too tender to hear it. My trial and condemnation sufficiently evidence this. – Algernon Sidney, on the scaffold
Incidentally, after petitioning the king for mercy on the grounds of his political railroading and the unprofessional conduct by the judge in his case, the king declined, whereupon Sidney remarked that, for all he cared, "the king can make a snuffbox from my arse."
Discourses was finally published in 1698. Its influence on the radical wing of the Whigs and the founding fathers of America simply can't be overstated. The book is a bit of a tough read but is remarkable in its rebuttal of Robert Filmer's Patriarcha (the premier royalist text of the time) and its dismantling of the concept of the "divine right of kings."
Sidney was outraged by Filmer, responding in Discourses that the natural equality and innate liberty of all mankind were "evident to common sense," an idea brought to the masses the following century by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.
In order for liberty to continue, Sidney believed, a society must question the authority of people who claim to be superior. "Who will wear a shoe that hurts him, because the shoe-maker tells him 'tis well made?" People with reason and common sense will "suspect the words of such as are interested in deceiving or persuading them not to see with their own eyes."
"A general presumption that Kings will govern well, is not a sufficient security to the People... those who subjected themselves to the will of a man were governed by a beast.”
For his many contributions to the concept of freedom, as well as his uncompromising belief in the right of revolution, Sidney is widely recognized as the first major martyr to the principles of free speech and individual liberty. For his undeniable influence on the ideas of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Madison, and so on, he's also one of America's forgotten founding fathers.
Most of us here in the Commonwealth now know him best for another contribution, this time written in the guest book at the University of Copenhagen, during the 1660 treaty signing between Denmark, Sweden, England, France, and Holland:
"PHILIPPUS SIDNEY MANUS HAEC INIMICA TYRANNIS ENSE PETIT PLACIDAM CUM LIBERTATE QUIETEM" ("This hand, enemy to tyrants, by the sword seeks peace with liberty").
Believing that executive power should be subordinate to the legislature of the people, and that people should be free to choose their own form of government, the first Massachusetts General Court during the Revolutionary War adopted the motto seen today on the state seals and the flag of the Commonwealth. And UMass Amherst.
The manner of Algernon's death, an unapologetic free-thinker martyred at the hands of a king with unlimited and arbitrary power, led (understandably) to interest in his ideas by colonists, and Discourses became among the most widely- and carefully-read treatises on the corruption of absolute power, the rule of law, and representative government in 18th century America.
Popular interest in Sidney's ideas waned a bit after America won her independence - Americans saw less of a need for them once the monarchy was out of the picture. There was a resurgence of interest in his teachings during the movement to abolish slavery, and again, after that struggle was won, the educated elite began to favor more fashionable statesmen who preferred unrestrained government power in pursuit of large societal projects. And so it goes.
As individual liberty in the modern era faces new struggles, we'll surely visit Algernon Sidney again.