Post by RS Davis on Sept 1, 2004 9:01:42 GMT -5
Jeffersonian Principles
by Laurence M. Vance
"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none." ~ Thomas Jefferson
"The principles of Jefferson are the axioms of a free society." ~ Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was no ordinary Founding Father. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1769), a delegate to the Continental Congress (1775), the governor of Virginia (1779), minister to France (1785), the first Secretary of State (1789), the vice president of the United States (1796), and finally, the president of the United States (1801). He also established the University of Virginia (1810).
Although most high school students are probably taught that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, very few are probably also taught that he wrote the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and the Kentucky Resolutions, which were written in response to the original Patriot Act – the Alien and Sedition Acts. Jefferson also wrote hundreds of letters on a wide variety of subjects. Because most of what he wrote has been published, Jefferson is one of the most quoted persons in history.
Perhaps the most famous quote from Jefferson is that oft-repeated one from his first inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1801: "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none."
This quote is part of Jefferson’s annunciation of what he deemed "the essential principles of our government." The quote in its context reads as follows:
About to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper that you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people – a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of the revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority – the vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia – our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trail by juries impartially selected – these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
This often-cited statement by Jefferson ("Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none") was not just empty rhetoric like that which bellows from the lips of all modern politicians – of both parties. The principles embodied in this succinct statement can be found throughout Jefferson’s writings.
[glow=red,2,300]Peace[/glow]
I hope France, England and Spain will all see it their interest to let us make bread for them in peace, and to give us a good price for it.
Peace is our most important interest, and a recovery from debt.
Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.
We ask for peace and justice from all nations.
We love and we value peace; we know its blessings from experience.
The happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace.
The state of peace is that which most improves the manners and morals, the prosperity and happiness of mankind.
Our desire is to pursue ourselves the path of peace as the only one leading surely to prosperity.
Always a friend to peace, and believing it to promote eminently the happiness and prosperity of nations, I am ever unwilling that it should be disturbed, until greater and more important interests call for an appeal to force.
We are yet at peace, and shall continue so, if the injustice of the other nations will permit us. The war beyond the water is universal. We wish to keep it out of our island.
I hope that peace and amity with all nations will long be the character of our land, and that its prosperity under the Charter will react on the mind of Europe, and profit her by the example.
Peace is our passion, and the wrongs might drive us from it. We prefer trying ever other just principles, right and safety, before we would recur to war.
We have great need of peace in Europe, that foreign affairs may no longer bear so heavily on ours. We have great need for the ensuing twelve months to be left to ourselves.
I pray for peace, as best for all the world, best for us, and best for me, who have already lived to see three wars, and now pant for nothing more than to be permitted to depart in peace.
That peace, safety, and concord may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in procuring or preserving them, I shall think I have not lived in vain.
Twenty years of peace, and the prosperity so visibly flowing from it, have but strengthened our attachment to it, and the blessings it brings, and we do not despair of being always a peaceable nation.
It is impossible that any other man should wish peace as much as I do.
by Laurence M. Vance
"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none." ~ Thomas Jefferson
"The principles of Jefferson are the axioms of a free society." ~ Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was no ordinary Founding Father. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1769), a delegate to the Continental Congress (1775), the governor of Virginia (1779), minister to France (1785), the first Secretary of State (1789), the vice president of the United States (1796), and finally, the president of the United States (1801). He also established the University of Virginia (1810).
Although most high school students are probably taught that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, very few are probably also taught that he wrote the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and the Kentucky Resolutions, which were written in response to the original Patriot Act – the Alien and Sedition Acts. Jefferson also wrote hundreds of letters on a wide variety of subjects. Because most of what he wrote has been published, Jefferson is one of the most quoted persons in history.
Perhaps the most famous quote from Jefferson is that oft-repeated one from his first inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1801: "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none."
This quote is part of Jefferson’s annunciation of what he deemed "the essential principles of our government." The quote in its context reads as follows:
About to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper that you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people – a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of the revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority – the vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia – our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trail by juries impartially selected – these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
This often-cited statement by Jefferson ("Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none") was not just empty rhetoric like that which bellows from the lips of all modern politicians – of both parties. The principles embodied in this succinct statement can be found throughout Jefferson’s writings.
[glow=red,2,300]Peace[/glow]
I hope France, England and Spain will all see it their interest to let us make bread for them in peace, and to give us a good price for it.
Peace is our most important interest, and a recovery from debt.
Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.
We ask for peace and justice from all nations.
We love and we value peace; we know its blessings from experience.
The happiness of mankind is best promoted by the useful pursuits of peace.
The state of peace is that which most improves the manners and morals, the prosperity and happiness of mankind.
Our desire is to pursue ourselves the path of peace as the only one leading surely to prosperity.
Always a friend to peace, and believing it to promote eminently the happiness and prosperity of nations, I am ever unwilling that it should be disturbed, until greater and more important interests call for an appeal to force.
We are yet at peace, and shall continue so, if the injustice of the other nations will permit us. The war beyond the water is universal. We wish to keep it out of our island.
I hope that peace and amity with all nations will long be the character of our land, and that its prosperity under the Charter will react on the mind of Europe, and profit her by the example.
Peace is our passion, and the wrongs might drive us from it. We prefer trying ever other just principles, right and safety, before we would recur to war.
We have great need of peace in Europe, that foreign affairs may no longer bear so heavily on ours. We have great need for the ensuing twelve months to be left to ourselves.
I pray for peace, as best for all the world, best for us, and best for me, who have already lived to see three wars, and now pant for nothing more than to be permitted to depart in peace.
That peace, safety, and concord may be the portion of our native land, and be long enjoyed by our fellow-citizens, is the most ardent wish of my heart, and if I can be instrumental in procuring or preserving them, I shall think I have not lived in vain.
Twenty years of peace, and the prosperity so visibly flowing from it, have but strengthened our attachment to it, and the blessings it brings, and we do not despair of being always a peaceable nation.
It is impossible that any other man should wish peace as much as I do.
