Thomas Jefferson
Third US President (1743 to 1826); author of the Declaration of Independence and Notes on the State of Virginia.
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What they believe
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If freed slaves stayed, prejudice and grievances would bring conflict probably ending only in the extermination of one race
Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections by the blacks of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which Nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions, which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race.
en.wikisource.orgSaid c. 1781–1787This on korrents
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Rights of conscience were never surrendered to government and cannot be
The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God.
en.wikisource.orgSaid c. 1781–1787This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 19 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
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If freed slaves stayed, prejudice and grievances would bring conflict probably ending only in the extermination of one race
Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections by the blacks of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which Nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions, which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Laws (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Blacks may be inferior to whites in endowments of body and mind, a view offered as a suspicion only
I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Laws (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Freed slaves, unlike in Rome, must be removed beyond the reach of racial mixture
Among the Romans emancipation required but one effort. The slave, when made free, might mix with, without staining the blood of his master. But with us a second is necessary, unknown to history. When freed, he is to be removed beyond the reach of mixture.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Laws (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
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The chief aim of public education is making the people safe guardians of their own liberty
But of all the views of this law, none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Laws (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Government degenerates when trusted to rulers alone; the people are its only safe depositories
Every Government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Laws (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Corruption is better restrained by a wide right to vote than by limiting it to the wealthy
It has been thought that corruption is restrained by confining the right of suffrage to a few of the wealthier of the people; but it would be more effectually restrained by an extension of that right to such numbers as would bid defiance to the means of corruption.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Laws (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Rights of conscience were never surrendered to government and cannot be
The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
A neighbour saying there are twenty gods or no god does no one any injury
But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty Gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Coercing belief may make hypocrites and entrench errors but will never cure them
Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Reason and free enquiry are the only effective remedies against error
Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Only error needs government support; truth can stand by itself
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Uniformity of opinion is no more desirable than uniformity of face and stature
But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Religious coercion has made half the world fools and the other half hypocrites
What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
The way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them
They have made the happy discovery, that the way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Essential rights should be fixed in law while rulers are honest and the people united
It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII: Religion (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Relations between master and slave are a constant exercise of despotism and degrading submission
The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII: Manners (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
Those who farm the land are God's chosen people, if he ever had one
Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIX: Manufactures (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
While land remains, Americans should leave general manufacturing to Europe
While we have land to labor then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry; but, for the general operations of manufacture, let our work shops remain in Europe.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIX: Manufactures (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
The mobs of great cities weaken pure government as sores weaken the body
The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body.
Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIX: Manufactures (1853 edition) Said c. 1781–1787
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