#jefferson

When we seek to understand liberty, equality, progress, constitutional governance, separation of church and state, and the meaning of the American Revolution, we do so in contexts framed by Jefferson's writings and arguments. Whatever we think of Jefferson as a person or as a politician, we can never take away from him his remarkable gift as a writer or his ultimate claims to fame. He achieved his intention to express 'the American mind' and became the leading spokesman for the revolution of ideas that changed, and that continues to change, the face of America and the world. His words mean not only what he might have intended them to mean, but also what succeeding generations of Americans have read into them. Thus, whether he would even comprehend the United States in the first years of the twenty-first century, Jefferson's shadow looms large over us, thanks to the conflicting influences of his thinking, doing, and -- most important -- his writing. That truth alone requires each generation to reacquaint itself with the life and work of Thomas Jefferson, and to grapple with his ambiguous legacies. ↗

— R.B. Bernstein

#change

The platform we had in Dallas, the 1984 Republican platform, all the ideas we supported there - from tax policy, to foreign policy; from individual rights, to neighborhood security - are things that Jefferson Davis and his people believed in. ↗

— Trent Lott

#dallas #davis #foreign #foreign policy #had

In America, Jefferson noted with approval, women knew their place. ↗

— Stephen Ambrose

#approval #jefferson #knew #noted #place

We know of no spectacle more ridiculous—or more contemptible—than that of the religious reactionaries who dare to re-write the history of our republic. Or who try to do so. Is it possible that, in their vanity and stupidity, they suppose that they can erase the name of Thomas Jefferson and replace it with the name of some faith-based mediocrity whose name is already obscure? If so, we cheerfully resolve to mock them, and to give them the lie in their teeth. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#history #thomas-jefferson #united-states #faith

If you seek Hamilton's monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government. ↗

— George Will

#central #central government #country #government #hamilton

I suppose there's a melancholy tone at the back of the American mind, a sense of something lost. And it's the lost world of Thomas Jefferson. It is the lost sense of innocence that we could live with a very minimal state, with a vast sense of space in which to work out freedom. ↗

— George Will

#back #could #freedom #i #innocence

The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it. ↗

— John Adams

#away #considered #declaration #effect #glory

Jefferson owned slaves. He did not believe that all were created equal. He was a racist. ↗

— Stephen Ambrose

#created #did #equal #jefferson #owned

If Thomas Jefferson thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see how it is with representation. ↗

— Rush Limbaugh

#how #jefferson #representation #see #should

If Thomas Jefferson had heard us, he probably would have said, 'We shouldn't have free speech.' ↗

— Robin Quivers

#free speech #had #heard #jefferson #probably