When I learned about Thomas Jefferson in grade school I was thrilled. Maybe it had something to do with the adventures of Johnny Tremain and the Sons of Liberty fighting for independence on Disneyland. But he was a tonic in my Catholic classrooms: reason and rebellion in one package that the nuns couldn’t touch.
In fourth grade I copied the entire Declaration of Independence from a textbook facsimile in Jefferson’s hand. I even imitated the handwriting. In fifth grade when I ran a history class in our one and only “student teaches a class” day, I used Jefferson’s “Have we found angels in the form of kings” for my punchline.
Here are a few quotes from Jefferson relevant to the moment. Feel free to add your own.
“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.”
“…and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
“What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.”
“We are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”
“Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”
“This is the fourth?”
–reputed to be Jefferson’s last words the day he died: July 4,1828.
