Thomas Jefferson Quotes About Democracy
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The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.
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And where else will [Hume,] this degenerate son of science, this traitor to his fellow men, find the origin of just powers, if not in the majority of the society? Will it be in the minority? Or in an individual of that minority?
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Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
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It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order.
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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.
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Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%.
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The best defense of democracy is an informed electorate.
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Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.
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Every man cannot have his way in all things. If his opinion prevails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing that of others preponderate at other times. Without this mutual disposition we are disjointed individuals, but not a society.
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We are sensible of the duty and expediency of submitting our opinions to the will of the majority, and can wait with patience till they get right if they happen to be at any time wrong.
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Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves.
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Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.
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Eternal Vigilance is the price of democracy.
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The country is headed toward a single and splendid government of an aristocracy founded on banking institutions and moneyed incorporations and if this tendency continues it will be the end of freedom and democracy, the few will be ruling...I hope we shall...crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government to trial and bid defiance to the laws of our country. I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.
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The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.
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In a government bottomed on the will of all, the... liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all.
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It is my principle that the will of the majority should always prevail.
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An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy.
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That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.
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My heart trembles when I reflect that God is just
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Let us in education dream of an aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity
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The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society.
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Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth; and I am sure...we both value too much the freedom of opinion sanctioned by our Constitution, not to cherish its exercise even where in opposition to ourselves.
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If the measures which have been pursued are approved by the majority, it is the duty of the minority to acquiesce and conform.
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A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
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A properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate.
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Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take them.
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The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate.
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