Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jeffersonwas an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He was elected the second Vice President of the United States, serving under John Adams and in 1800 was elected the third President. Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, which motivated American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation. He produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national level...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionUS President
Date of Birth13 April 1743
CityShadwell, VA
CountryUnited States of America
What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
It is, however, an evil for which there is no remedy, our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
A government big enough to supply you with everything you need is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.... The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases.
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object.
A single good government is a blessing to the whole earth.
Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
If ever there was a holy war, it was that which saved our liberties and gave us independence.
[Emigrants] will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty.
The people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberties. In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy . . . Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone.
When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.
We are the friends of liberty everywhere, but the guarrantors of only our own.
Trial by jury is part of the bright constellation which leads to peace, liberty and safety.