Founders
I Would Rather
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it. Thomas Jefferson Letter to Archibald Stewart December 23, 1791
Read MoreControl
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and…
Read MoreToo Many Parasites
I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Thomas Jefferson Letter to William Ludlow September 6, 1824
Read MoreWe Should Have Fine Times
O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone; and you have no longer an aristocratical, no longer a democratical spirit. Did you ever read of any revolution in a nation, brought about by the…
Read MoreThe Great Object
The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun. Patrick Henry Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution June 14, 1788
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