The Natural Progress Of Things

clipped from jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first. A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others. An elective despotism was not the government we fought for. The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. The man who reads nothing at all is better than educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

Yet more Jefferson quotes.