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Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American statesman, born at Shadwell, Virginia. He took a prominent part in the Revolution, and claimed to have drawn up the Declaration of Independence. He secured the decimal coinage for the States in 1783. Jefferson was also plenipotentiary in France in 1784, and subsequently minister there. Became the third President, 1801-1807, of USA, who saw the Louisiana purchase and the prohibition of the slave-trade. After his retirement he devoted himself to furthering education till his death at Monticello, Va. He was a man of extremes, but honest and consistent in his policy.

Wisdom & Quotes

  • The earth is given as common stock for man to labor and live on.
- letter to James Madison, 1785
  • Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
- letter to James Currie, 1786
  • A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth.
- letter to James Madison, Dec 1787
  • Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
- letter to Colonel Edward Carrington, June 16, 1787
  • The people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
- letter to James Madison, 1787
  • The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
- letter to Colonel William Smith, Nov 13, 1787
  • The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
- letter to Colonel Edward Carrington, 1788
  • It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.
- letter to Mrs A S Marks, 1788
  • The execution of the laws is more important than the making them.
- letter to the Abbe Arnold, 1789
  • Delay is preferable to error.
- letter to George Washington, May 16, 1792
  • Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none.
- First Inaugural Address, 1801
  • My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.
- letter to Philip Mazzei, March 1801
  • The spirit of this country is totally adverse to the large military force.
- letter to Chandler Price, 1807
  • For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organised and armed militia is their best security.
- message to Congress, Nov 1808
  • But though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener.
- letter to Charles Wilson Peale, August 20, 1811
  • Every citizen (should) be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and the Romans, and must be that of every free state.
- letter to James Monroe, 1813
  • An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.
- letter to John Melish, Jan 13, 1813
  • I cannot live without books.
- letter to John Adams, June 10, 1815
  • I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
- letter to John Adams, 1816
  • There is not a truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world.
- letter to Henry Lee, 1826
  • We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Declaration of Independence
  • Force cannot give right.
- The Rights of British America
  • The whole art of government consists in being honest.
- Works, VI, 186
  • Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
- Notes on the State of Virginia
  • It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty Gods, or no God.
- Notes on the State of Virginia
  • Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
- Notes on the State of Virginia
  • When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.
- quoted in Rayner, Life of Jefferson
  • Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.
- motto on his seal, original author not known

William Henry

Page last modified on Friday December 31, 2021 15:12:40 GMT-0000