Thomas Jefferson Quotes
I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty.
Jefferson, Thomas. "To John Adams." 7 July 1785. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Julian P. Boyd, vol. 8, Princeton University Press, 1953, p. 267.
Referring to NAFTA and free trade with Mexico:
America’s first political economist
“Service” referred to what was then the 7 year time of apprenticeship that a typical American apprentice was required to work for a master tradesman before he was given colonial citizenship and allowed to trade for himself. Under the bill that was passed anyone could come to the British American colonies (except Jews) by taking an oath of allegiance and paying a small fee. Holland and some thought that it discriminated against those apprentices who had come before and apprenticed themselves thus “playing by the rules.” Ever since, immigration and citizenship debates have faced the tension between the need for labor in America and the fairness to the people who had followed the earlier existing rules restricting immigration.
In England at the time, the liberals were for free trade and the conservatives against. In both England and America both liberals and conservatives have flip flopped their roles in foreign trade several times. Free trade is a two edged sword; it aids domestic growth, employment and prosperity in some cases and hurts them on others. And there are always winners and losers for each example of free trade within any country. The result is no long term commitment and much flip flopping.
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.
