http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/courses/city/Jefferson/jefferson_on_cities.htm
Jefferson to James Madison, 1787:
“”.... I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe. Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.””
Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 1800:
“”...The yellow fever will discourage the growth of great cities in our nation, & I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts, but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere, and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue & freedom, would be my choice.””
Sincere thanks for educating me on the issue of Jefferson.
Greetings from Volvo Land.