Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error.
Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia. J. Stockdale, 1787, p. 286.
The American Founding Fathers were aware of Sidney and others who were executed for what they said about the King and the government. Hence, the First Amendment. However, John Adams passed the Alien and Sedition Acts which turned criticism into treason. It was repealed later and would probably have been declared unconstitutional if it had not been repealed. However, during the First World War, critics were also jailed. Eugene Debs, a Presidential Candidate, served several years in jail until pardoned. He had opposed the war and the Draft of soldiers. Freedom of Speech and Treason have been in contention whenever the nation might be at war or in a crisis. Supreme Court decisions may have put an end to future American censorship efforts of this kind.
Essentially, she was telling all the political forces that they were in the wrong and had to compromise. One could not tell the King, Louis XIV, that he was wrong at that time and place, so she told him that he was poorly advised, but everyone, including the king knew what she meant.
This quotation illustrates that government use of censorship and classification to cover up errors and mistakes in not just a modern phenomenon. It is a technique that government’s will gravitate to whenever they have the chance.
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.
