Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Having received information that in another part of the United States a great number of private individuals were combining together, arming and organizing themselves contrary to law, to carry on a military expedition against the territories of Spain, I thought it necessary, by proclamation as well as by special orders, to take measures for preventing and suppressing this enterprise, for seizing the vessels, arms, and other means provided for it, and for arresting and bringing to justice its authors and abettors. It was due to that good faith which ought ever to be the rule of action in public as well as in private transactions, it was due to good order and regular government, that while the public force was acting strictly on defensive and merely to protect our citizens from aggression the criminal attempts of private individuals to decide for their country the question of peace or war by commencing active and unauthorized hostilities should be promptly and efficaciously suppressed.
The issue of who has the right to declare war was not only a contest between Congress and the President, but it was not at all clear that individuals and groups of individuals who felt aggrieved or who could profit from a war could not start one on their own. Jefferson had established the principle that individual groups could not start a war. Earlier Jefferson’s administration had prohibited Americans from fighting in foreign wars and this was the next logical step. However, the right of a state to initiate hostilities was less clear and in the War of 1812, seven years later, state militia were committed by state governors without the necessary concurrence of the Federal government.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), 5th State of the Nation Address, December 3, 1805
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Spanish had been beaten and bloodied by England, but no one else until Napoleon would come along later. So it was easy for Spain to bully and dominate the non-English countries.
What is interesting about this quote is that it is very much like many American politicians who support a large and strong military.
Every major Western power and Japan were looking to control parts of China for their own mercantile advantage. The Emperor, her adopted son, had stated that under no circumstances would the Chinese fight, but Cixi issued this decree, in effect, overruling the Emperor—a remarkable occurrence.
With a professionalized all volunteer military, most of whom came from just a few socio-economic strata of our society, wars at the time were fought and the risks and burdens borne by a small part of American society. The rest of society, unlike the Second World War did not experience any change in their style or standard of living.
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.
