Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Patrick Henry has an avaricious heart. Devoutly pray for his death.
The nation was engaged in a great debate over the ratification of The Constitution that had been drafted the previous year. Virginia was one of the 4 major states. Madison and Jefferson were leaders of the pro-ratification forces in Virginia. However the leader of the anti ratification forces was Patrick Henry and he seemed to be winning. Jefferson was writing about further refinement of their efforts. His statement in this letter was in jest, but there was a little bit of wishful thinking.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Letter to James Madison, 1788
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Although he was the first Western philosopher to emerge from the dark ages, he was one of the great advocates for freedom of speech and freedom of thought. He not only was publicly critical of many authority figures of the day, but he refused Pope Nicholas I’s orders to submit his work to Church censorship. He was supported by King Charles nonetheless, but various church councils condemned many of his writings. Ironically, one of his works that caused so much criticism was a defense of one of the views of Hincmar, the cleric who he attacked in the quotation. The radical notion was that the destiny of an individual is not totally dependent upon God, but that man has been given free will and that has some part in determining salvation.
President Theodore Roosevelt referred to the same groups similarly. See {638453} and {639956}.
He said this as he threw them out of his White House office.
Roosevelt believed that the person who just made money was sorely lacking and he had a duty to the society and the country that went beyond money. Much of the upper class though him a prig and resented his criticism.
President Reagan had asked Ford, Nixon and Jimmy Carter to attend the funeral of assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sedat. In the plane flying to Egypt, Nixon was trying to play off the ex-presidents against each other, and making nasty remarks about various political figures. The others including Ford were offended.
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.
