Thomas Jefferson Quotes
If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check.
Jefferson, Thomas. "To William Duane, 22 March 1806." The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Albert Ellery Bergh, vol. 11, The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1905, p. 94.
“Factions” was the word for Political Parties then. Henry, George Washington and other founding fathers were opposed to political parties, while Madison and others thought they needed to controlled. Jefferson thought parties to be important. So there was no uniform consensus among the Founding Fathers. This has his last public speech before his death.
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.