Thomas Jefferson Quotes

A government is republican in proportion as every member composing it has his equal voice in the direction of its concerns: not indeed in person, which would be impracticable beyond the limits of a city or small township, but by representatives chosen by himself and responsible to him at short periods.

If, then, the control of the people over the organs of their government be the measure of its republicanism, and I confess I know no other measure, it must be agreed that our governments have much less of republicanism than ought to have been expected; in other words, that the people have less regular control over their agents, than their rights and their interests require.

Whereas the constitution of … Holland is in its principles a popular representation, it is necessary that the right of the people be duly ascertained; that the members of the States be rendered responsible to them for their conduct and be precluded from taking any decisive step without their consent …

The further the departure from direct and constant control by the citizens, the less has the government of the ingredient of republicanism.

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.

Representative government demands an ongoing conversation between legislators and constituents.

Here, again, as I conceive, gentlemen forget that this government is a republican one, resting exclusively in the intelligence and virtue of the People.

The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.

Parliament of the country is the repository of the sovereign will of the people, and its successful functioning is a joint responsibility of both the government and the Opposition.

Voting should be the right of the great body of the society…an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans, and claim for their government the honorable title of republic.

In all forms of government the people is the true legislator.

To say that sovereignty vests with the people, and that they have not a right to instruct and control their representative is absurd to the last degree.

Public participation in the process of government is the essence of democracy.

Are the governors such exceptionally gifted men as to enable them … to represent the masses and act in the interests of all men better than all men would be able to act for themselves?

The great advantage of representatives is their capacity of discussing public affairs. For this, the people collectively are extremely unfit, which is one of the chief inconveniences of a democracy.

We" are not the government; the government is not "us." The government does not in any accurate sense "represent" the majority of the people

To establish republican government, it is necessary to effect a constitution in which the will of the nation shall have an organized control over the actions of its government, and its citizens a regular protection against its oppressions

The wisdom and discretion of Congress ... are the restraints on which the people must often rely solely, in all representative governments

The people are gainers by the election of representatives. They may destroy, but they cannot exercise, the powers of government in person, but by their servants they govern: they do not renounce their power; they do not sacrifice their rights; they become the true sovereigns of the country when they delegate that power, which they cannot use themselves to their trustees.

In a political sense, there is one problem that underlies all of the others. The problem is making government sufficiently responsive to the people.

A deliberative assembly should be formed, and all measures be decided by public opinion.

It's a question of whether or not we the people are still in charge. And by 'we the people,' I mean, is this truly a government of and by and for the people.

We the people tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us.

If we advert to the nature of republican government, we shall find that the censorial power is in the people over the government, and not in the government over the people.

We set up government by consent of the governed, and the Bill of Rights denies those in power any legal opportunity to coerce that consent. Authority here is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.