of Presbyterians. The blasphemy and absurdity of the five
points of Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them, ren-
der their advocates impatient of reasoning, irritable and prone
to denunciation. * * * Systematical in grasping at an
ascendency over all other sects, Presbyterians aim, like the
Jesuits, at engrossing the education of the country, are hostile
to ever}'- institution which they do not direct, and jealous at
seeing others begin to attend at all to that object. (To Dr.
Cooper, 1822. C. VIL, 266.)
The Presidency. ā I own I like what Luther Martin tells us
was repeatedly voted and adhered to by the Federal conven-
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 345
tion, and only altered about twelve days before their rising
when some members had gone oiff, to wit, that he (the Presi-
dent) should be elected for seven years and incapable for ever
after. (To William Short, written from Paris, 1788. F. V., 49.)
The Presidency. ā The first wish of my heart was that you
should have been proposed for the administration of the gov-
ernment. On your declining it, I wish anybody other than
myself: and there is nothing I so anxiously hope, as that my
name may come out either second or third. These would be
indififerent to me; as the last would leave me at home the whole
year, and the other two-thirds of it. (To James Madison, 1793.
F. VII., 91.)
The Presidency. ā You have seen my name lately tacked so
much to eulog)^ and abuse that I dare say yO'U hardly thought
it meant your old acquaintance of '76. In truth, I did not know
myself under the pens either of my friends or foes. It is unfor-
tunate for our peace that unmerited abuse wounds while
unmerited praise has not the power to heal. These are hard
wages for the services of all the activity and healthy years of
one's life. I had retired after five and twenty years of constant
occupation in public affairs and total abandonment of my own.
I retired much poorer than when I entered the public service,
and desired nothing but rest and oblivion. My name, however,
was again brought forward without consent or expectation on
my part (on my salvation I declare it). * * * Qn prin-
ciples of public respect I should not have refused; but I protest
before my God that I shall from the bottom of my heart rejoice
at escaping. * * * j have no ambition to govern men;
no passion which would lead me tO' delight to ride in a storm.
Flumina amo sylvasque inglorius. (To Edward Rutledge, 1796.
F. VII., 93-)
Presidency. ā My opinion originally was that the President
of the United States should have been elected for seven years,
and forever ineligible afterwards. I have since become sensible
that seven years is too long to be irremovable, and that there
should be a peaceable way of withdrawing a man in midway
who is doing wrong. The service for eight years with a. power
34^ THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
to remove at the end of the first four, comes nearly to my
principle as corrected by experience. And it is in adherence
to that that I am determined to withdraw at the end of my
second term. The danger is that the indulgence and attach-
ments of the people will keep a man in the chair after he be-
comes a dotard, that re-election through life shall becomie
habitual, and election for life follow that. General Washington
set the example of voluntary retirement after eight years. I
shall follow it, and a few more precedents will oppose the
obstacle of habit to anyone after a while who shall endeavor
to extend his term. Perhaps it may beget a disposition to
establish it by an amendment of the Constitution. I believe
I am doing right, therefore, in pursuing my principle. I had
determined to declare my intention, but I have consented to be
silent on the opinion of friends, who think it best not to put a
continuance out of my power in defiance of all circumstances.
Tliere is, however, but one circumstance which could engage
my acquiescence in another election, to wit, such a division
about a successor as might bring in a Monarchist. But this
circumstance is impossible. While, therefore, I shall make no
formal declarations tO' the public of my purpose, I have freely
let it be understood in private conversation. In this I am
persuaded yourself and my friends generally will approve of my
views; and should I at the end of a second term carry into
retirement all the favor which the first has acquired, I shall feel
the consolation of having done all the good in my power, and
expect with more than composure the termination of a life no
longer valuable to others or of importance to myself. (To
John Taylor, 1805. F. VIII., 339.)
Presidential Tours. ā I confess that I am not reconciled to
the idea of a chief magistrate parading himself through the
several States, as an object of pubHc gaze, and in quest of an
applause which, to be valuable, should be purely voluntary.
I had rather acquire silent good will by a faithful discharge of
my duties, than owe expressions of it to my putting myself in
the way of receiving them. Were I to make such a tour to
Portsmouth or Portland, I must do it to Savannah, perhaps
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 347
to Orleans and Frankfort. As I have never yet seen the time
when the public business would have permitted me to be so
long in a situation in which I could carry it on, so I have no
reason to expect that such a time will come while I remain in
office. A journey to Boston or Portsmouth, after I shall be a
private citizen, would much better harmonize with my feelings,
as well as duties; and, founded in curiosity, would give no
claims to an extension of it. I should see my friends, too, more
at our mutual ease, and be left more exclusively to their society.
(To Governor Sullivan, 1807. C. V., 102.)
The Press. ā No Government ought to be without censors;
and when the press is free, no one ever will. Nature has given
to man no other means of sifting out the truth either in religion,
law or politics. I think it as honorable to the government
neither to know nor notice its sycophants or censors as it would
be undignified and criminal to pamper the former and persecute
the latter. (To Washington, 1792. F. VI., 108.)
Priestly, Joseph. ā Yours is one of the few lives precious
to mankind, and for the continuance of which every thinking
man is solicitous. Bigots may be an exception. * * *
Those who live by mystery and charlatanerie fearing you would
render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy ā
the most sublime and benevolent but most perverted system
that ever shone on man ā endeavored to crush your well-earnt
and well-deserved fame. But it was the Liliputians upon Gul-
liver. Our countrymen have recovered from the alarm into
which art and industry had thrown them; science and honesty
are replaced on their high ground; and you, my dear sir, as
their great apostle, are on its pinnacle. (To Joseph Priestly,
1801. F. VIIL, 21.)
Prince of Wales (Afterward George IV.). ā As the charac-
ter of the Prince of Wales is becoming interesting I have endeav-
ored to learn what it truly is. * * * He has not a single
element of mathematics or moral philosophy, or any other
science on earth, nor has the society he has left been such as to
supply the void of education. It has been that of the lowest,
the most illiterate and profiigate persons of the kingdom, with-
348 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
out choice of rank or mind, and with whom the subjects of
conversation are only horses, drinking-matches, bawdy-houses,
and in terms most vulgar. In fact, he never associated with a
man of sense. He has not a single idea of justice, morality,
religion, or of the rights of men or any anxiety for the opinion
of the world. He carries that indifference for fame so far, that
he probably w^ould not be hurt if he was to lose his throne,
provided he could be assured of having always meat, horses
and women. (To John Jay, wTitten in Paris, 1789. F. V., 62.)
Profession of Political Faith. ā I do with sincere zeal wish
an inviolable preservation of our present Federal Constitution,
according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the
States, that in which it was advocated by its friends, and not that
which its enemies apprehended, who therefore became its ene-
mies; and I am opposed to the monarchising its features by
the forms of its administration with a view to conciliate a first
transition to a President and Senate for life, and from that to a
hereditary tenure of these ofSces and thus to w^orm out the
elective principle. I am for preserving to the States the powers
not yielded by them to the Union, and to the Legislature of
the Union its constitutional share in the division of the powers;
and I am not for transferring all the powers of the States to
the general government, and all those of that government to
X the executive branch. I am for a government rigorously
y frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the public
revenue to the discharge of the national debt, and not for a
multiplication of of^cers and salaries merely to make partisans
and for increasing by every device the public debt on the prin-
ciple of its being a public blessing. I am for relying, for internal
defense, on our militia solely, till actual invasion, and for such
a naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors from.
such depredations as we have experienced; and not for a stand-
ing army in time of peace, which may overawe the public sen-
timent; nor for a navy which by its own expenses and the
external wars in which it will implicate us, wdll grind us with
public burthens and sink us under them. I am for free com-
merce with all nations; political connection wath none; and
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 349
little or no diplomatic establishment. And I am not for linking
ourselves by new treaties with the generals of Europe; entering
that field of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in
the confederacy of kings to war against the principles of liberty.
I am for freedom of religion and against all manoeuvres to bring
about a legal ascendency of one sect over another; for freedom
of the press and against all violations of the Constitution to
silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms
just or unjust of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.
And I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its
branches; and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred
name of philosophy; for awing the human mind by stories of
raw-head and bloody bones to a distrust of its own vision and to
rely implicitly on that of others; to go backward instead of
forward to look for improvement; to believe that government,
religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest
perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance and that nothing
can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by
our forefathers. To these I will add that I was a sincere well-
wisher to the success of the French Revolution, and still wish
it may end in the establishment of a free and well-ordered
republic; but I have not been insensible to the atrocious depre-
dations they have committed on our commerce. The first
object of my heart is my own country. In that is embarked my
family, my fortune, and my own existence. I have not one
farthing of interest nor one fibre of attachment out of it, nor a
single motive of preference of any one nation to another but in
proportion as they are more or less friendly to us. (To Elbridge
Gerry, 1799. F. VII., 327-329-)
Progress. ā The Gothic idea that we are to look backwards
instead of forwards for the improvement of the human mind,
and to recur to the annals of our ancestors for what is not
perfect in government, in religion and in learning is worthy of
those bigots in religion and government by whom it has been
recommended and whose purposes it would answer. But it is not
an idea which this country will endure. (To Joseph Priestly,
1800. F. VII., 416.)
350 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
Protection. ā The Government of the United States, at a very
early period, when establishing its tariff on foreign importations,
were very much guided in their selection of objects by a desire
to encourage manufactures within ourselves. (To ,
1821. C. VII., 220.)
Protection. ā I do not mean to say that it may not be for
the general interest to foster for a while certain infant manu-
factures until they are strong enough to stand against foreign
rivals; but when evident that they will never be so, it is against
right, to make the other branches of industry support them.
(To Samuel Smith, 1823. C. VII., 285.)
Public Opinion. ā I cannot decide between Andrew Alex-
ander, John Alexander, and John Camphers, recommended by
different persons for the marshal's office. Pray write me your
opinion which appointment would be most respected by the
public, for that circumstance is not only generally the best
criterion of what is best, but the public respect can alone give
strength to the government. (To Archibald Stuart, 1801. F.
VIII., 47)
Public Opinion. ā It will always be interesting to me to know
the impression made by any particular thing on the public mind.
My idea is that when two measures are equally right, it is a
duty of the people to adopt that one which is m.ost agreeable
to them; and where a measure not agreeable to them has been
adopted, it is desirable to know it, because it is an admonition to
a review of that measure to see if it has been really right, and
to correct it if mistaken. It is rare that the public sentiment
decides universally or unwisely, and the individual who differs
from it ought to distrust and examine well his own opinion.
(To William Findley. 1801. F. VIII.. 27.)
Public Service. ā It is not for an individual to choose his
post. You are to marshal us as may be best for the public
good ; and it is only in the case of its being indifferent to you,
that I would avail myself of the opinion you have so kindly
offered me in your letter. If you think it better to transfer me to
another post, my inclination must be no obstacle; nor shall
it be if there is any desire to suppress the office I now hold or to
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 351
reduce its grade. In either of these cases, be so good as only
to signify to me your ultimate wish, and I will conform to it
accordingly. If it should be to remain in New York, my chief
comfort will be to work under your eye, my only shelter the
authority of your name, and the wisdom of measures to be
dictated by you and implicitly executed by me. (To Wash-
ington, in reply to an offer of the ofTfice of Secretary of State,
1789. F. v., 141.)
Public Service, ā The happiest moments of my life have been
the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.
Employment anywhere else is a mere (?) of time; it is burning
the candle of life in perfect waste for the individual himself.
I have no complaint against anybody. I have had more of the
confidence of my country than my share. I only say that public
employment contributes neither to advantage or happiness. It
is but honorable exile from one's family and affairs. (To
Francis Willis, 1790. F. V., 157.)
The Pulpit.^ ā Whenever preachers, instead of a lesson in
religion, put them ofT with a discourse on the Copernican
system, on chemical afSnities, on the construction of govern-
ment, or the characters or conduct of those administering it,
it is a breach of contract, depriving their audience of the kind
of service for which they are salaried, and giving them, instead
of it, what they did not want, or if wanted, would rather seek
from better sources in that particular art or science. In choos-
ing our pastor we look to his religious qualifications, without
inquiring into his physical or political dogmas, with which we
mean to have nothing to do. I am aware that arguments may
be found which may twist a thread of politics into the cord of
religious duties. So may they for every other branch of human
art or science. Thus, for example, it is a religious duty to
obey the laws of our country; the teacher of religion, there-
fore, must instruct us in those laws, that we may know how to
obey them. It is a religious duty to assist our sick neighbors;
the preacher must, therefore, teach us medicine, that we may
do it understandingly. It is a religious duty to preserve our
own health; our religious teacher, then, must tell us what dishes
352 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
are wholesome, and give us recipes in cookery, that we may
learn how to prepare them. And so', ingenuity, by generalizing
more and more, may amalgamate all the branches of science
into any one of them, and the physician who is paid to visit
the sick, may give a sermon instead of medicine, and the mer-
chant to whom money is sent for a hat, may send a handkerchief
instead of it. But notwithstanding this possible confusion of all
sciences into one, common sense draws lines between them suf-
ficiently distinct for the general purposes of life, and no one
is at a loss to understand that a recipe in medicine or cookery,
or a dem.onstration in geometr}^ is not a lesson in religion. I
do not deny that a congregation may, if they please, agree with
their preacher that he shall instruct them in medicine also, or
law, or politics. Then lectures in these, from the pulpit, become
not only a matter of right, but of duty also. But this must be
with the consent of every individual; because the association
being voluntary, the mere majority has no right to apply the
contributions of the minority to purposes unspecified in the
agreement of the congregation. (To Mr. Wendover, 1815.
C. VI., 445-)
Punishment. ā Any ofificer or soldier, guilty of mutiny, de-
sertion, disobedience of command, absence from duty or quar-
ters, neglect of guard, or cowardice, shall be punished at the
discretion of a court-martial by degrading, cashiering, drum-
ming out of the army, whipping not exceeding 20 lashes, fine
not exceeding two months, or imprisonment not exceeding one
month. (From the draft of a bill providing against invasions,
1777. F. II., 127.)
Punishments. ā It frequently happens that wicked and disso-
lute men, resigning themselves to the dominion of inordinate
passions, commit violations on the lives, liberties, and property
of others, and the secure enjoyments of these having principally
induced men to enter into society, government would be defec-
tive in its principal purpose were it not to restrain such criminal
acts by inflicting due punishments on those who perpetrate
them. (From a bill relating to crimes and punishments, 1779.
F. II., 204.)
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 353
Quakers. ā You observe very truly, that both the late and
present administration conducted the g-overnment on principles
professed by the Friends. Our efforts to preserve peace, our
measures as to the Indians, as tO' slavery, as to religious freedom,
were all in consonance with their profession. Yet I never ex-
pected we should g-et a vote from them, and in this I was neither
deceived nor disappointed. There is no riddle in this to those
who' do not suffer themselves to be duped by the professions of
religious sectaries. The theory of American Quakerism is a
very obvious one. The mother society is in England. Its
members are English by birth and residence, devoted to their
own country as good citizens ought to be. The Quakers of
these States are colonies or filiations from the mother society, to
whom that society sends its yearly lessons. On these, the
filiated societies model their opinions, their conduct, their pas-
sions and attachments. A Quaker is essentially an Englishman,
in whatever part of the earth he is bom or lives. The outrages
of Great Britain on our navigation and commerce, have kept us
in perpetual bickerings with her. The Quakers here have taken
sides against their own government, not on their profession
of peace, for they saw that peace was our object also; but from
devotion to the views of the mother society. In 1797-8, when
an administration sought war with France, the Quakers were
the most clamorous for war. Their principle of peace, as a
secondary one, yielded to the primary one of adherence to the
Friends in England, and what was patriotism in the original,
became treason in the copy. On that occasion, they obliged
their good old leader, Mr. Pemberton, to erase his name from
a petition to Congress against war, which had been delivered
to a Representative of Pennsylvania, a member of the late and
present administration; he accordingly permitted the old gentle-
man to erase his name. You must not therefore expect that
your book will have any more effect on the Society of Friends
here, than on the English merchants settled among us. I apply
this to the Friends in general, not universally. I know individ-
uals among them as good patriots as we have. (To Samuel
Kercheval, 1810. C. V., 492.)
354 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
Quakers. ā Delaware is essentially a Quaker State, the frag-
ment of a religious sect which, there, in the other States, in
England, are a homogeneous mass, acting with one mind, and
that directed by the mother society in England. Dispersed, as
the Jews, they still form, as those do, one nation, foreign to the
land they live in. They are Protestant Jesuits, implicitly de-
voted to the will of their superiors, and forgetting all duties to
their country in the execution of the policy of their order.
When war is proposed in England they have religious scruples;
but when with France, these are laid by, and they become
clamorous for it. They are, however, silent, passive and give
no other trouble than of whipping them along. (To A'larquis
de LaFayette, 1817. C. VII., 66.)
Quartering Troops. ā His majesty has no right to land a
single armed man on our shores, and these whom he sends here
are liable to our laws made for the suppression and punishment
of riots and unlawful assemblies; or are hostile bodies, invading
us in defiance of law. He possesses, indeed, the executive
power of the laws in every State, but they are the laws of the
particular State which he is to administer within that State, and
not those of any one within the limits of another. Every State
must judge for itself the number of armed men which they may
safely trust among them, of whom they are to consist, and
under what restrictions they shall be laid. (From "A Summary
View," 1774. F. I., 445.)
Rebellion. ā The spirit of resistance to government is so
valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept
alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so
than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and
then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere. (To Mrs. John
Adams, written in Paris, 1787. F. IV., 370.)
Rebellion. ā We have had thirteen independent States eleven
years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one
rebellion in a century and a half for each State. What country
before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion?
And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are
not warned from time to time that their people preserve the
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 355
spirit of resistance? Let these take arms. The remedy is to
set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What
signify a few Hves lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty
must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots
and tyrants. It is its natural manure. (To Stephens Smith,
written in Paris, 1787. F. IV., 467.)
Reciprocity in Trade. ā I should say then to every nation
on earth by treaty: Your people shall trade freely with us and
ours with you, paying no more than the most favored nation,
in order to put an end to the right of individual States acting
by fits and starts to interrupt our commerce or to embroil us
with any nation. * * * jf ^}-,g nations of Europe from
their actual establishments are not at Hberty to say to America
that she shall trade in their ports duty free, they may say she
may trade there paying no higher duties than the most favored
nation. And this is valuable in many of those countries where a
great difference is made between the different nations. (To
James Monroe, written from Paris, 1785. F. IV., 56.)
Reciprocity. ā Some nations not yet ripe for free commerce
in all its extent might still be willing to mollify its restrictions
and regulations for us in proportion to the advantages which an
intercourse with us might offer. Particularly they may concur
with us in reciprocating the duties to be levied on each side, or
in compensating any excess of duty by equivalent advantages