Thomas Jefferson on Shay's r*******n
Jul 8, 2013 15:00:41 #
Im willing to live with a little Thomas Jefferson republican resistance, as stated in a letter from Paris, November 13, 1787, responding to William S. Smith letter concerning The New Constitution and Shays r*******n, thus:
The British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, & what is more wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. Yet where does this anarchy exists? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusetts (Shays r*******n)? And can history produce an instance of r*******n so honourably [u,1787 spelling] conducted? I say nothing of its motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a r*******n. The people cannot be all, & always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There has been one r*******n. That comes to one r*******n in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a r*******n? & what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure. Our Convention has been too much impressed by the i**********n of Massachusetts: and in the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the hen-yard in order. I hope in God this article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted. (Parenthesis added)(Emphasis added), Thomas Jefferson, Writings; Autobiography; A Summary View of the Rights of British America; Notes on the State of Virginia; Public Papers; Addresses, Messages, and Replies; Miscellany; Letters, Copyright 1984 by Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. New York, N.Y., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 83-19917, Merrill D. Paterson Wrote the Notes and Selected the Texts for the Volume, p.911.
While Im willing to live with a little Thomas Jefferson republican resistance God forbid we should ever be 20 years without a little r*******n, I will never meekly accept National Socialism under Obama as the supreme dictator, and no freedom at all.
The British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, & what is more wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. Yet where does this anarchy exists? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusetts (Shays r*******n)? And can history produce an instance of r*******n so honourably [u,1787 spelling] conducted? I say nothing of its motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a r*******n. The people cannot be all, & always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There has been one r*******n. That comes to one r*******n in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a r*******n? & what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure. Our Convention has been too much impressed by the i**********n of Massachusetts: and in the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the hen-yard in order. I hope in God this article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted. (Parenthesis added)(Emphasis added), Thomas Jefferson, Writings; Autobiography; A Summary View of the Rights of British America; Notes on the State of Virginia; Public Papers; Addresses, Messages, and Replies; Miscellany; Letters, Copyright 1984 by Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. New York, N.Y., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 83-19917, Merrill D. Paterson Wrote the Notes and Selected the Texts for the Volume, p.911.
While Im willing to live with a little Thomas Jefferson republican resistance God forbid we should ever be 20 years without a little r*******n, I will never meekly accept National Socialism under Obama as the supreme dictator, and no freedom at all.
Jul 9, 2013 02:41:19 #
CrazyHorse wrote:
Im willing to live with a little Thomas Jefferson... (show quote)
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