Thomas Jefferson Quotes
I disapproved from the first moment... the want of a bill of rights to guard liberty against the legislative as well as the executive branches of the government …
Jefferson and many others thought the original drafting of the Constitution was deficient in not explicitly protecting rights from the government. See {586024}. When it came time for ratification, it was clear that ratification would not take place unless that was remedied and the Bill of Rights made the ratification possible by satisfying many critics of whom Jefferson was but one. Note that the protection sought was from the President and the Congress.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Commenting on the newly drafted Constitution, Letter to Francis Hopkinson, 1789
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Note the use of the phrase “against the government.” One of the unique aspects of the American Constitution and The Bill of Rights is that the government is considered a potential and even probable infringer on the liberties of the people. It is almost as though the government was the potential enemy. Modern libertarians state this very explicitly and it is ever present in the views of both the right and left wings of American politics. Most centrists recoil at the thought that some citizens see the government as the enemy, but even in America there have been times where the government has infringed on the rights of citizens only to have the courts or future administrations and Congresses correct the error.
Vidal, a staunch liberal held this view along with many ultra conservatives end extreme liberals. The constitution requires the Congress to declare war, but they have not done so for any of the wars since WWII. The President assumed the war power. And the only coherent budgets began.
Though not very dramatic or succinct, this is a very important quotation in American History. The original drafters of the Constitution concentrated on limiting the powers of the executive—the role of the King. But the Congress had no limits placed on them. In Britain, to this day, the Parliament can do whatever they wish as there is no restraint on them other than their prudence and reasonableness. Madison used the example of the Alien and Sedition Acts—huge infringements on the rights of Americans—to show why the legislative branch must also be more restrained and limited. And that was the logic behind adding the Bill of Rights to our Constitutions.
Arguing for a Bill of Rights to assuage public objections to the original Constitution:
Powell was the Secretary of State and Addington kept advising the administration that as long as the President was acting in defense of the country in his capacity as Commander in Chief, he did not have to obey any existing laws that had been Constitutionally passed which in the opinion of the President restricted or limited the President or the executive branch. Addington was an attorney and Assistant to the Vice President, but he was given much responsibility for administration policy. Powell the Secretary of State of the Administration could not have disagreed more and although most politicians including Republicans disagreed with the Addington thesis, Powell was one of the few Republicans to criticize the Addington position.
The Congress over the last century has ceded much of its Constitutional power to the President. Congress has much power to check the President, but just as Congress has not been very competent at legislating, oversight, and conducting hearings and investigations, it has not organized itself to use the powers it has very well.
- Born: April 13, 1743
- Died: July 4, 1826
- Nationality: American
- Profession: President
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.
