Thomas Jefferson Quotes
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We...solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of a right ought to be free and independent states...and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Julian P. Boyd, vol. 1, Princeton University Press, 1950, p. 429.
Jefferson had deliberately modified John Locke’s phrase “life, liberty and property.
The opening line of the North Vietnamese Declaration of Independence was a quotation of Thomas Jefferson’s in the American Declaration of Independence. What is even more interesting is that Ho Chi Minh who wrote it asked for and received help in checking his translation from an American agent of the OSS---Office of Strategic Service, precursor to the CIA. While Ho adopted much from the American Democratic concepts, he did not include free elections of multiple party candidates, freedom of speech, travel, or many other basics.
The preamble to this declaration of womens’ rights cleverly beginy s with the words of the Declaration of Independence with the single change that “all men” is replaced with “all men and women.” The message was clear. If the founders had a moral right and duty to revolt for these objectives women would be justified and duty bound to make similar efforts. That message terrified many men of the era.
This was written and adopted by Vermont a decade before the United States Constitution the ideas for which were in existence in America before the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
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.
