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Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson

Book by Thomas Jefferson · 10 quotes · Government, Ifs, Politics

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Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson Quotes

“Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens; and the same circumstance, by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite public agents to corruption, plunder and waste.”

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Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
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“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.”

MeanGovernmentWould BePoliticalPoliticsWishWillingDependsConstitutionAdministrationArticlesAmendmentsFederal GovernmentFoundingReductionOur Founding FathersBorrowingUs Founding FathersNational DebtDebt By Founding Fathers
Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
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“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and 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. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.”

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“[T]he opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves, in their, own sphere of action, but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.”

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Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
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“If, then, the control of the people over the organs of their government be the measure of its republicanism, and I confess I know no other measure, it must be agreed that our governments have much less of republicanism than ought to have been expected; in other words, that the people have less regular control over their agents, than their rights and their interests require.”

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Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
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“I do verily believe that if the principle were to prevail of a common law being in force in the United States (which principle possesses the general government at once of all the powers of the state governments, and reduces us to a single consolidated government), it would become the most corrupt government on the earth.”

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Book:Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson
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