Thomas Jefferson Quotes
This I hope will be the age of experiment in government.
See FDR’s quotations {32446} & {642798} on experimentation for an extension of Jefferson’s hope.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Quoted on PBS Ken Burns Thomas Jefferson, November 2002
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The dramatic thing about this quotation is that in public, the mantra of conservatives about the courts of America is that they make and change laws as opposed to just interpreting and clarifying the laws. They traditionally accuse judges who rule against their favorite positions as using the courts as an instrument of political and social change. Here a leading conservative federal jurist, who thereafter became a member of the Supreme Court, was acknowledging and advocating the courts as instruments for conservative social, economic, and political change.
This quotation is sometimes cited in criticism of programs or policies that the critic thinks have not been thought out fully or possible contingencies not considered. Many believe that this quotation illustrates the approach that should never be taken. Others argue that for most large enterprises or visions, this is the ONLY way to go about it for all contingencies can never be known in advance.
1st Earl of Beaconsfield
- 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.
