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We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country.

Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jefferson
Age: 83 †
Born: 1743
Born: April 2
Died: 1826
Died: July 4
3Rd U.S. President
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Of all the cankers of human happiness none corrodes with so silent, yet so baneful an influence, as indolence.
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I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old.
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Were I to commence my administration again, the first question I would ask respecting a candidate would be, Does he use ardent spirits?
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Honesty is the first chapter in the Book of wisdom. Let it be our endeavor to merit the character of a just nation.
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Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself.
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The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.
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I have been happy . . . in believing that . . . whatever follies we may be led into as to foreign nations, we shall never give up our Union, the last anchor of our hope, and that alone which is to prevent this heavenly country from becoming an arena of gladiators.
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Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.
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The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. 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.
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The eyes of our citizens are not sufficiently open to the true cause of our distress. They ascribe them to everything but their true cause, the banking system
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I am... for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the Constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.
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I can scarcely contemplate a more incalculable evil than the breaking of the Union into two or more parts.
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Revenue on the consumption of foreign articles is paid cheerfully by those who can afford to add foreign luxuries to domestic comforts.
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The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.
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I have but one system of ethics for men and for nations - to be grateful, to be faithful to all engagements under all circumstances, to be open and generous, promoting in the long run even the interests of both
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An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.
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And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
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No man has greater confidence than I have in the spirit of the people, to a rational extent. Whatever they can, they will.
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I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all others.
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A pirate spreading misery and ruin over the face of the ocean
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