“But this institution was republican, and even democratic. And here not to be misunderstood, I mean by democratic, a government, the administration of which must always be rendered comfortable to that predominating public opinion . . . and by republican I mean a government reposing, not upon the virtues or the powers of any one man - not upon that honor, which Montesquieu lays down as the fundamental principle of monarchy - far less upon that fear which he pronounces the basis of despotism; but upon that virtue which he, a noble of aristocratic peerage, and the subject of an absolute monarch, boldly proclaims as a fundamental principle of republican government. The Constitution of the United States was republican and democratic - but the experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived; and it was obvious that if virtue - the virtue of the people, was the foundation of republican government, the stability and duration of the government must depend upon the stability and duration of the virtue by which it is sustained.” - John Quincy Adams - "Jubilee" Address, April, 1839Perhaps Jefferson's brilliant mind and ability to understand that ideas have consequences enabled him to foresee a time when a departure from principle and what Washington called the "Spirit of Party" would produce a power couple like the Clintons, as he observed:"I am among those who think well of the human character generally. I consider man as formed for society and endowed by nature with those dispositions which fit him for society." --Thomas Jefferson to William Green Munford, 1799.
"Everyone, by his property or by his satisfactory situation, is interested in the support of law and order. And such men may safely and advantageously reserve to themselves a wholesome control over their public affairs and a degree of freedom which, in the hands of the canaille of the cities of Europe, would be instantly perverted to the demolition and destruction of everything public and private." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1813. ME 13:401
"Every man being at his ease feels an interest in the preservation of order and comes forth to preserve it at the first call of the magistrate." --Thomas Jefferson to M. Pictet, 1803. ME 10:356
"The mobs of the great cities add just so much to the support of pure government as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIX, 1782. ME 2:230
"To the sincere spirit of republicanism are naturally associated the love of country, devotion to its liberty, its right and its honor." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Virginia Legislature, 1809. ME 16:333
"[It is the people's] conviction that a solid Union is the best rock of their safety." --Thomas Jefferson to C. W. F. Dumas, 1791. ME 8:197
"The cement of this Union is in the heart-blood of every American. I do not believe there is on earth a government established on so immovable a basis." --Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1815. ME 14:252
"Possessed of the blessing of self-government and of such a portion of civil liberty as no other civilized nation enjoys, it now behooves us to guard and preserve them by a continuance of the sacrifices and exertions by which they were acquired, and especially to nourish that Union which is their sole guarantee." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to New London Plymouth Society, 1809. ME 16:360
"Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust." --Thomas Jefferson to M. van der Kemp, 1812. ME 13:136
"No other depositories of power [but the people themselves] have ever yet been found, which did not end in converting to their own profit the earnings of those committed to their charge." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:71