A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of the laborer the bread he has earned. This is the sum of good government and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
Get a FREE Copy of "The Essential Federalist Papers
What Jefferson called the greatest commentary on Government ever written, organized by topic!
Get a FREE Copy of "The Essential Federalist Papers
What Jefferson called the greatest commentary on Government ever written, organized by topic!
Yes, I agree, just wish our government did ! !
Given to us as ‘unallienated rights given to us by our CREATOR….
Over-taxation and over-regulatation, are the greatest threats to liberty in this country. The American people are being over-taxed, and then those revenues are being over-spent: All of these things will ruin this country. Jefferson was VERY much correct in his assessment.
He saw what we would become if the government wasn’t controlled.
Yes, I certainly agree. Its too bad out current government is the antithesis of this statement.
Yes, I agree. The government should allow people to reap their rewards for hard work and learn from their failures, and pass the experiance on to the next generation. A small, but wise and frugal Government is what’s best for the people.
Makes one wonder if Mr. Jefferson could read the future.
HOPE YOU’LL TAKE TIME TO READ THIS…
Thomas Jefferson was a remarkable man who began his learning very early in life and never stopped.
At 5, he began studying under his cousins’ tutor.
At 9, he studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, he studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, he entered the College of William and Mary.
At 19, he studied Law for 5 years, starting under George Wythe.
At 23, he started his own law practice.
At 25, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, he wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America ” and retired from his law practice.
At 32, he was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33,he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
At 33, he took three years to revise Virginia ‘s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, he was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, he served in Congress for two years.
At 41, he was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, he served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
At 53, he served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55,he drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, he was elected the third president of the United States .
At 60, he obtained the Louisiana Purchase , doubling the nation’s size.
At 61, he was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, he retired to Monticello .
At 80, he helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, he almost single-handedly created the University of
Virginia and served as its first president.
At 83, he died, on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself had studied the previously failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, God’s laws, and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. His is a voice from the past to lead us into the future.
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time.. He made this statement:” This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone .”
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes, a principle which if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be deprived the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
I wish we could get this out to everyone!!!
I’m doing my part. Please do yours.
Thank you Pat, any way for me to paste this on my page?
AMEN!!
Completely agree, lets reelect him. A dead person would make a better president right now!!
Jefferson so often spoke from a place of common sense. Unfortunately, common sense, particularly in government, died, a long time ago..
@Todd… Unfortunately common sense is no longer a common virtue among our elected representatives.
And most of the voters are too near-sighted to see beyond part ideologies and petty politics.
Government has become an additional risk and load for business. If you look at the 1890s you will see the last time we had minimal government intervention in business and you will also see an incredible creation of wealth, which can also be called human endeavor. My ancestors (and hordes of other immigrants) were greatly helped during this time and I long to see the day again.
@Danielle – The quote from the Declaration is “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”, which is a HUGE difference from “unalienated rights”!!! The Declaration recognized the rights we possess naturally, without any ‘grant’ from any man or gov’t. These rights, since they are not granted by man, they cannot be rescinded by man – hence ‘unalienable’! On the other hand, ‘unalienated rights’ implies that these are the remaining vestige of rights, which are controlled by man/gov’t, that have not yet been seized from us! That is a difference larger than night from day!!! Please don’t fall into the trap of thinking that granting, controlling or rescinding our natural rights is a legitimate power of any man or gov’t. That power shall always remain only with the one who has endowed us with them – the Creator!!!
So much for “The Party of Jefferson!”
And we look at IL Gov Quinn extending 1955 law on sales tax to include unpaid taxes for items bought over the internet OVER THE PAST 7 YEARS!!! They will assess the citizen’s income at 3% on the $1000 of income to cover those “undsiclosed, unpaid taxes of internet purchases.” Interesting court cases should evolve from that. I know I never even did business online that far back, and certainly not to that amount of taxation to this day!
Yes, I agree. We need to get out of Debt and shrink our Gov. Let the states rule them selves, and stop being the police force for the world. We also need to quit giving special treatments to other races and all become Americans as one. Your not an African American or Hispanic American or Asian American. Everyone came from somewhere at one point in time to be Americans period, even the Native Americans came from somewhere else, they just got here first. We need to stop the madness!
Thank you, Pat Johnson, for the great compilation of info on Thomas Jefferson. He has long been one of my favorite Founding Fathers along with Ben Franklin. I re-posted it on my page.
For the first time in our history (I think), we have a “president” who does NOT believe we have inaleinable rights bestowed upon us by our Creator. Therein lies the problem.
Do I agree? Is a frog’s ass water tight? Once again, another indication how great Jefferson and the framers and founders were. By the way, that muffled noise you hear is these great men revolving at high speed in their graves when they see what a piece of crap our government has become.
“…the bread he has EARNED” LOVE that. TJ rocks.
I absolutely agree! >:) TJ is clearly calling for taxes on the rich, not the poor, and on accumulated wealth rather than earnings, while regulating the activities of both business and individuals to ensure they do not harm one another.
LOL… come on now… read it again and tell me logically (not emotionally) how my interpretation is any worse than any other?
Our Government has lost the meaning of what our Forefathers set into place, not only as logical but thical and moral.
Scott, We’re in agreement, but please clean up your comments… this is a family page and the moderator IS hot on keeping things safe and clean for everybody to read.
How could anyone disagree with Jefferson’s assertion? Laborers receive compensation, not income. Income is revenue less expenses leaving profit, or income. If a laborer has income, his food, shelter, water, gasoline, and practically everything else should be an expense to him.
The Federal Reserve Corporation is the source of most of society’s inequities today. It was designed as a means to distribute wealth from the bottom up.
I agree with Jefferson. William Bradford wrote of the Plymouth colony concerning the difference all saw between communal and private farming. In communal farming there wasn’t much work completed or great harvest because young men didn’t want to work without recompense, women thought themselves slaves for cooking and cleaning for all the men, and older men thought it undignified to be grouped with stronger young men. Basically everyone had to work for the whole according to what instructions they were given. When a change was made and people were given their own parcel of land according to their needs and could decide what to do with it, there was more production among the people. We can look at our own society and see how dependent one group is on the government and how, in a time of crisis, many waited upon others to save them from their grief and pain rather than use their own resources and ability to survive the disaster. Taking from one who works hard and give some of it to one who doesn’t in the hopes to equalize the two, will find little or no production as in William Bradford’s observation and experience with the early colonists. Government taxes and uses that not to benefit the whole, but to equalize our society, yet in doing so have neglected the center, and created a group with little or no hope to progress beyond their status.