Thomas Jefferson and Independence Day

For the 4th of July I decided to discuss a couple of my favourite quotes by TJ. Not sure of the effect it had on the learners, but they're great quotes:


“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

“In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree.”

“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither.”


http://www.nps.gov/thje/