Thomas Jefferson

"I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. 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."

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Source: Letter to William Ludlow, September 6, 1824.

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Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Politician, Founding Father

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, advocating for liberty and democracy.

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