Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.
At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.
At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.


At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.

At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.



At 23, started his own law practice.

At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.



At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America and retired from his law practice.



At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.


At 33, took three years to revise Virginia 's legal code and wrote a Public Education bill

and a statute for Religious Freedom.

At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia, succeeding Patrick Henry.


At 40, served in Congress for two years.

At 41, was the American minister to France , and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.


At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.

At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.


At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions, and became the active head of Republican Party.



At 57, was elected the third president of the United States .
At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase , doubling the nation's size.



At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired to Monbbticello .



At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia , and served as its first president.



At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, along with John Adams


Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future:



John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."


"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe ." -- Thomas Jefferson



"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."- - Thomas Jefferson




"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."-- Thomas Jefferson



"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson



"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." -- Thomas Jefferson


"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson



"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."-- Thomas Jefferson


"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."-- Thomas Jefferson






Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."


Do any of these quotes apply today?

Quote by Jefferson who was known to grow hemp.

__________________
Jim

For those of you who might not be aware, Hemp was absolutely necessary for making ropes. Wasn't too much nylon available in those days. Ropes were absolutely necessary for Maritime and other important uses.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Other than the bible, Jefferson is probably the best source anywhere for cherry-pickable quotes when you need to justify a bias in a forwarded email.

__________________
You're a daisy if you do.
__________________________________
84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

While the two men were in France, John Adams was moved to comment in letters to his wife on Jefferson's reckless personal spending habits. His financial incompetence came to haunt him in later life -- he tried to raffle off Monticello before he died to pay off his debts.

At a time when finance and the economy play such a large part in the public discourse, it pays to keep in mind that Jefferson, like many great men, was gifted, but also tragically flawed.

....and KNEW better than he DID. Like many in Congress----on a one-on -one basis, most of them are fine, upstanding people. But when you put them in a group, the mod mentality takes over, and even common sense becomes rare, and people convince themselves that things that KNOW are wrong, are somehow right.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

We don't elect people to be great private citizens but have them be great public servants.

Go ahead and cherry pick some them which refute that which you think needs refuting!

The second quote, about Democracy ceasing to exist, first saw print in 1986.

It is found nowhere in any quotes of Jefferson.

Something like it is found in the works of a French writer Jefferson was considering translating, but there is no record that he ever did.

The quote 'My reading of history' first saw print in 1913. It was made up by a fellow named John Sharps Williams who passed himself off as a 'Jefferson Expert'.

'No free man shall ever' is nowhere to be found in any writings of Jefferson or any document he ever had a hand in producing.

Quote number 1 is one in which Jefferson was saying that as long as there was ample land in America for Farmers then the country would be OK. When we run out of land we will be piled upon each other as they are in Europe.

Quote number 3 is a true one.

Quote 4 is also true, but altered a bit for modern ears.

'No free man' was in a draft paper that Jefferson wrote, but it was tossed out before the Virginia Constitution was approved.

Quote number 7 is entirely made up and no original source can be found for it.

"The tree of liberty' quote is from a long letter Jefferson wrote bemoaning the fact that the King had a News Machine that was cranking out one lie after another about America, and how Jefferson found it hard to break through to the rest of the world what was really going on in the Colonies. Jefferson also wrote in this letter about how the people of Massachusetts seemed to be overreacting to everything and how acting without facts was a terrible thing to do. He then comments on 'The tree of Liberty' and how the King, if he continues to lie about the political situation in America, would be taught a good lesson in ignoring the people, and that a few lives lost now would mean little hundreds of years from now.

This letter appears to be a recollection of events since it was written to a friend in 1787.

The quote about 'Compelling a man' is in reference to Church Taxes which were common in Europe then and still are in some countries. Jefferson thought that no one should pay Church Taxes but should give to the Church of their choice what they felt led to give. At the time all Church Taxes when to the Church of England which was led by the King, so even after winning independence from The Crown the people in America were still paying taxes to the King. Jefferson wanted this practice stopped.

And....

For further reading check out the University of Virginia's 'Jefferson Quotes' web-site.

Jefferson was in strong opposition to publishing information that was inaccurate.

Today's Conservatives? Ehhh.... Not so much.

Today's ANYTHING, not so much. Lieing is not limited to conservatives or liberals. The ones in Washington are the same self serving miserabales regardless of party.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

I have wondered for years why Conservatives are happy to pass on E-mails when they have no clue as to the accuracy of the information they contain.

My favorites ones always start with, "I don't know if this is true, but....."

I guess they think they are serving some higher good or something, but if anyone is reduced to spreading lies in order to push their agenda then they don't have much of an agenda to begin with.

I guess they are going for the old 'swaying of popular opinion' thing. The bad part of all of this is when they start thinking the stories they are telling are true.

That sure tripped up Romney during one of the debates. It was a sort of poetic justice that the Republican lie machine was one of the big reason Romney tripped over his own tongue.

I appreciate your work in verification of the quotes.

Why the rip of "conservatives"? Do you think these amended quotes side with them? Do you assume the OP is one? What do conservatives have to do with the conversation?

pretty mild rip imho.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

My favorite quote is, "Movin' on up to a de-lux apartment, in the sky!"