Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Instead of that liberty which takes root and growth in the progress of reason, if recovered by mere force or accident, it becomes with an unprepared people a tyranny still of the many, the few, or the one.
Jefferson, Thomas. "From Thomas Jefferson to the Marquis de Lafayette, 14 February 1815." The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 8, Princeton University Press, 2011, p. 261.
Madison went on to observe that in a democracy, the real power may reside in the majority of the population, and in such a case the tyranny of the majority is the danger.
Christians at the time were the revolutionaries of society and formed secret societies it worship and further their religion. Once Christianity was the established religion, then secret societies were suspect of not treasonous per se.
In this quotation, the conservative hero, Mises, sounded like an anarchist or a libertarian.
This quotation is historically important because Davis clearly states the reason for the rebellion of the South. The anti-slave states were growing at a greater rate than the slave states and despite the greater voting power that a southerner had (a result of the 3/5 count of slaves for census purposes, and the Senate), the handwriting was on the wall and the majority of the United States was against the vicious institution of slavery and would make it unprofitable, impossible and/or illegal in the coming years. Southern slavery advocates saw this as a “tyranny of the majority” and therefore took up arms. In the early 20th century, apologists for the Southern rebellion tried to promote the idea that there were reasons other than slavery, but this quotation and the resolutions of the states who withdrew from the Union make it clear that the right to maintain slavery was the only significant issue. In that sense it was a States’ Rights issue, but the South was opposed to States’ Rights when it came to States refusing to return fugitive slaves when Federal Law required such under the Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision.
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.
