Thomas Jefferson Quotes
In place of that noble love of liberty and republican government which carried us triumphantly thro’ the war, an Anglican, monarchical and aristocratical party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the substance as they have already done the forms of the British government. The main body of our citizens however remain true to their republican principles, the whole landed interest is with them, and so is a great mass of talents. Against us are the Executive, the Judiciary, two out of three branches of the legislature, all of the officers of the government, all who want to be officers, all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty, British merchants and Americans trading on British capitals, speculators and holders in the banks and public funds a contrivance invented for the purposes of corruption and for assimilating us in all things, to the rotten as well as the sound parts of the British model.
Jefferson was the leader of the Republican faction of the nation against the Federalists who had passed the leadership from Washington to John Adams. Adams was somewhat pompous and strove for respect, titles, pomp and circumstance preferring “His Excellency” to “Mr President.” The Federalists strove for stability and order above all. Jefferson itemized the different subgroups and interest groups of the American population who supported the Federalist and a government that was close to the British system, It was a classic split with the wealthy, established, and conservative forces lined up against change and completing the transition to a radically new form of government. The respect the electorate had for Washington kept the Federalists in power for the first three Presidential Elections, but now Jefferson had Adams as the face of Federalism—a much easier target than George Washington. Despite all the power—religious, economic, financial, and governmental—all lined up against the Democratic Republicans, Jefferson over the next four years took his case to the people, who in 1800 voted against the Federalists so overwhelmingly, that the Federalist Party was wiped out in America and Jefferson and his followers dominated American politics for the next two Presidential elections.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Letter to Philip Mazzei, April, 24, 1796
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1st Viscount Bolingbroke. See {627799} for the origin of the bias against merchants and money men. It also represents a rigidity of class structure that characterized England until very recently. The landed gentry were the first class citizens. Usually titles went with the land. In America, someone who would be successful as a merchant or a banker could achieve the highest of social status and political influence. This was not true in England where a merchant that was far more wealthy than a landed lord was not accepted by the aristocracy.
This quotation is a great demonstration of how much wiser and the better politician of all the crowned heads of Europe that Queen Victoria was. There were stirrings of freedom and desire for parliamentary government throughout Europe. Queen Victoria, even though and perhaps because she was a young woman, had a great feel for fairness and reasonableness and had read a great deal of history. There were some radical red socialists calling for complete radical revolution scaring European Royalty profoundly. They reacted very conservatively and with reaction, reverting to more tyrannical practices of the past urged in that path by very conservative, right wing advisors. Victoria also had little respect for some of the monarchs who had little interest in their people and much with their personal power and wealth. In the end, it was England which was the only nation which never had a serious radical socialist / communist threat, and that had much to do with Victoria’s political acumen and wisdom.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston. We was half a century ahead of Ronald Reagan and the conservatives on this one.
This is one of the more passionate and colorful descriptions of Conservatives in the political literature. The conservative party were called Orangists as they were supporters of the monarchy of William V, Prince of Orange. As in modern times the conservatives included the upper classes, business people, religious advocates. The political conservatives were passionate, respected established authority, and in general, reactionary. The tended even then to flip-flopping as the conservatives had several factions--business conservatives, religious conservatives, monarchial conservatives, authoritarian conservatives and others. Depending on which faction was most powerful at the time, conservatives might advocate one position and change later when another faction was in control. Valckenaer also had some choice words to reflect his disdain for them. It is noteworthy that this description could describe political conservatives in almost any time period, in any culture. For example, it might have been a liberal writing about the Tea Party Republicans in 2014.
Cochrane became the Admiral in Chief of 2 Different South American Nations—Peru and Brazil—fighting for their independence. Incredibly enough, he was able to form idealistic freedom fighters with no naval experience into navies which defeated both the Spanish and Portuguese fleets at a time when those countries had world class navies. His achievements on behalf of the South Americans are often regarded as the most remarkable naval achievements in history.
Muir had spoken at the Convention of Scottish Friends of the People at Edinburgh in 1792. He had advocated election reform allowing all men to vote, not just property owners and was sentenced by Braxfield to the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay. Braxfield expressed the deep distrust the establishment felt even for merchants, traders and others with fungible assets.
In 1875 Benjamin Disraeli had an opportunity to purchase the Suez Canal for Great Britain from the Khedive of Egypt who was in great need of cash. However, Disraeli had to act very fast and there was no way to quickly move an appropriation of the then very large sum of 4 million pounds through Parliament. So he sent Corry to ask Lionel Rothchild, the British financier, for a loan until the government might raise the money. Rothchild asked, what would be the security for such a large loan. Rothchild immediately gave the loan.
There was much argument over the desired relative strength and power of the three branches of government. Wilson suggested equality. We argue about it to this day.
Originally it was published in Boston under the name “A Columbian Patriot.”
This letter was written shortly after the Constitution had been signed by the convention delegates. This difference between Adams and Jefferson would be at the heart of the first great partisan struggle in American history. Adams, as the second President, tried to increase and use the power of the Presidency. Jefferson opposed him, especially when Adams tried to run for a second term. The Adams-led Federalists were pitted against Jefferson’s Democratic Republicans in the first, and perhaps still the most bitter partisan struggle in American political history. The Jeffersonians accused Adams and the Federalists of trying to unravel the American Revolution and revert to a monarchy. The people not only sided with the Democratic Republicans, ousting Adams, but also turned out most of the Federalists. It was the end of the Federalist Party, and a new conservative party—without monarchial tendencies—the Whigs became the new opposition party.
Executed by the English for his part in the Easter Uprising. Connolly was a socialist advocate as well as a republican. He was one of the first revolutionaries to understand that military occupation was only a part of forces that kept a nation subservient to another. However, attempts to break those economic ties have almost always led to economic ruination.
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.
