History has informed us that bodies of men, as well as individuals, are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)Jefferson refused to pin his hopes on the occasional success of honest and unambitious men; on the contrary, the great danger was that philosophers would be lulled into complacence by the accidental rise of a Franklin or a Washington. Any government which made the welfare of men depend on the character of their governors was an illusion.
Daniel J. Boorstin, The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson (1948)Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. James Currie (28 January 1786) Lipscomb & Bergh 18:iiThe God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.
Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)There are extraordinary situations which require extraordinary interposition. An exasperated people, who feel that they possess power, are not easily restrained within limits strictly regular.
Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)- Thomas Jefferson (Wikipedia)
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743[b] – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Following the American Revolutionary War and prior to becoming president in 1801, Jefferson was the nation’s first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation’s second vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, and produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels. His writings and advocacy for human rights, including freedom of thought, speech, and religion, served as substantial inspirations to the American Revolution and subsequent Revolutionary War in which the Thirteen Colonies succeeded in breaking from British America and establishing the United States as a sovereign nation.