"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, liberals and serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, whigs and tories, republicans and federalists, aristocrats and democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still and pursue the same object. The last appellation of aristocrats and democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Presidents of the United StatesUnitarians from the United StatesFounding Fathers of the United States of AmericaUnited States Secretaries of StatePoliticians from Virginia
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter to Henry Lee (10 August 1824)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Thomas Jefferson
1743 – 1826
US-amerikanischer Politiker und der dritte Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten (1801–1809).
489 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Thomas Jefferson →
Related Quotes
"...the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence …"
"It is agreed by those who have seriously considered the subject, that no individual has, of natural right, a separate…"
"Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry."
"The law books abound with similar instances of the care the judges take of the public integrity, Laws, moreover, abri…"
"Widespread poverty and concentrated wealth cannot long endure side by side in a democracy"
"I have ever deemed it more honorable and profitable, too, to set a good example than to follow a bad one."
"Let the eye of vigilance never be closed."
"Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see."
"The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated …"
"It is not by the consolidation or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected."