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a fifth, or some subsequent one of the ever renewed attempts will ultimately succeed. In France, the first effort was defeated by Robespierre, the second by Bonaparte, the third by Louis XVIII. and his holy allies; another is yet to come, and all Europe, Russia excepted, has caught the spirit; and all will attain representative government, more or less perfect. * * To attain all this, however, rivers of blood must yet flow, and years of desolation pass over; yet the object is worth rivers of blood, and years of desolation. For what inheritance so valuable, can man leave to his posterity? You and I shall look down from another world on these glorious achievements to man, which will add to the joys even of heaven.-To JOHN ADAMS. vii, 307. FORD ED., X, 270. (M., 1823.)

Experi

7772. SELF-GOVERNMENT, ments in.-We have no interests nor passions different from those of our fellow citizens. We have the same object, the success of representative government. Nor are we acting for ourselves alone, but for the whole human race. The event of our experiment is to show whether man can be trusted with self-government. The eyes of suffering humanity are fixed on us with anxiety as their only hope, and on such a theatre, for such a cause, we must suppress all smaller passions and local considerations.-To GOVERNOR HALL. FORD ED., viii, 156. (W., July 1802.)

7773. SELF-GOVERNMENT, French people and.-The people of France have never been in the habit of self-government,

are

not yet in the habit of acknowledging that fundamental law of nature, by which alone self-government can be exercised by a society, I mean the lex majoris partis. Of the sacredness of this law, our countrymen are impressed from their cradle, so that with them it is almost innate.-To JOHN BRECKENRIDGE. FORD ED., vii, 417. (Pa., 1800.)

7774. Who could have thought the French nation incapable of self-government?-To DR. JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. FORD ED., viii, 179. (W., 1802.)

7775. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Generations and. The present generation has the same right of self-government which the past one has exercised for itself.-To JOHN H. PLEASANTS. Vii, 346. FORD ED., X, 303. (M.,

1824.)

7776. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Growth of. When forced to assume self-government, we were novices in its science. Its principles and forms had entered little into our former education. We established however some, although not all its important principles.-To JOHN CARTWRIGHT. vii, 356. (M., 1824.)

ment been instituted here. Agreeable to our
ideas, provision has been made for such of-
ficers as we think necessary for the adminis-
tration of public affairs; and we cannot con-
ceive that any other legislature has a right to
prescribe either the number or pecuniary ap-
pointments of our offices. As a proof that the
claim of Parliament to interfere in the neces-
sary provisions for the support of civil gov-
ernment is novel, and of a late date, we take
leave to refer to an Act of our Assembly,
passed so long since as the thirty-second year
of the reign of King Charles the Second, in-
tituled, "An Act for Raising a Publick Rev-
enue, and for the Better Support of the Gov-
ernment of His Majesty's Colony of Vir-
ginia". This act was brought over by Lord
Culpepper, then Governor, under the great
seal of England, and was enacted in the name
of the "King's most Excellent Majesty, by
and with the consent of the General Assem-
-ADDRESS TO GOVERNOR DUNMORE. FORD
bly
(1775.)

ED., i, 456.

7778. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Irresistible.-Alliances, holy or hellish, may be formed, and retard the epoch of deliverance, may swell the rivers of blood which are yet to flow, but their own will close the scene, and leave to mankind the right of self-government.-TO MARQUIS LAFAYETTE. vii, 324. FORD ED., x, 280. (M., 1823.)

7779. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Limitations of.-The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others.— OFFICIAL OPINION. vii, 499. FORD ED., v, 208. (1790.)

7780. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Local.My bill for the more general diffusion of learning had for a further object to impart to these wards those portions of self-government for which they are best qualified, by Confiding to them the care of their poor, their roads, police, elections, the nomination of jurors, administration of justice in small cases, elementary exercises of militia; in short, to have made them little republics, with a warden at the head of each, for all those concerns which, being under their eye, they would better manage than the larger republics of the county or State. A general call of ward meetings by their wardens on the same day through the State, would at any time produce the genuine sense of the people on any required point, and would enable the State to act in mass, as [the New England] people have so often done, and with so much effect by their town meetings.-To JOHN ADAMS. vi, 225. FORD ED., ix, 427. (M., 1813.) See WARDS.

7781. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Louisiana and. Although it is acknowledged that our 7777. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Interfer- new fellow citizens [in Louisiana] are as yet ence with.-We [the Virginia House of as incapable of self-government as children, Burgesses] cannot, my Lord, close with the yet some [in Congress] cannot bring themterms of that resolution [Lord North's Con- selves to suspend its principles for a single ciliatory Propositions] because the moment. The temporary or territorial govBritish Parliament has no right to intermed-ernment of that country, therefore, will enIdle with the support of civil government in counter great difficulty.-TO DE WITT CLINthe Colonies. For us, not for them, has govern- TON. FORD ED., viii, 283. (W., Dec. 1803.)

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Maxi

7782. SELF-GOVERNMENT, mum.-My most earnest wish is to see the republican element of popular control pushed to the maximum of its practicable exercise. I shall then believe that our government may be pure and perpetual.-To ISAAC H. TIFFANY. VII, 32. (M., 1816.)

7783. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Men capable of. I have no fear but that the result of our experiment will be, that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master. Could the contrary of this be proved, I should conclude, either that there is no God, or that he is a malevolent being.-TO DAVID HARTLEY. ii, 165. (P., 1787.)

7784.

I have not any doubt that the result of our experiment will be that men are capable of governing themselves without a master.-To T. B. HOLLIS. ii, 168. (P., 1787.) 7785.

Sometimes it is said that

man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels, in the form of kings, to govern him? Let history answer this question.-FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. viii, 3. FORD ED., viii, 3. (1801.)

7786. It is a happy truth that man is capable of self-government, and only rendered otherwise by the moral degradation designedly superinduced on him by the wicked acts of his tyrant.-To M. DE MARBOIS. vii, 77. (M., 1817.)

Natural.

7787. SELF-GOVERNMENT, -From the nature of things, every society must at all times possess within itself the sovereign powers of legislation.-RIGHTS OF BRITISH AMERICA. i, 138. FORD ED., i, 443. (1774.)

7788. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Preservation of.-It behooves our citizens to be on their guard, to be firm in their principles, and full of confidence in themselves. We are able to preserve our self-government if we will but think so.-To T. M. RANDOLPH. iv, 320. FORD ED., vii, 423. (Pa., Feb. 1800.)

7789. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Purposes of. The provisions we have made [for our government] are such as please ourselves; they answer the substantial purposes of government and of justice, and other purposes than these should not be answered.-REPLY TO LORD NORTH'S PROPOSITION. FORD ED., i, 479. (July 1775.)

7790. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Qualifications for. Some preparation seems necessary to qualify the body of a nation for selfgovernment.-To DR. JOSEPH FORD ED., viii, 179. (W., 1802.)

PRIESTLEY.

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7792. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Right to. -The inhabitants of the several States of British America are subject to the laws which they adopted at their first settlement, and to such others as have since been made by their respective Legislatures, duly constituted and appointed with their own consent. No other Legislature whatever can rightly exercise authority over them; and these privileges they hold as the common rights of mankind, confirmed by the political constitutions they have respectively assumed, and also by several charters of compact from the Crown.-RESOLUTION OF ALBEMARLE COUNTY. FORD ED., i, 418. (July 26, 1774.)

7793.

Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will, collections of men by that of their majority; for the law of the majority is the natural law of every society of men.-OFFICIAL OPINION. vii, 496. FORD ED., V, 205. (1790.)

7794. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Rightful limits.-We owe every other sacrificet to ourselves, to our federal brethren, and to the world at large, to pursue with temper and shall prove that man is capable of living in perseverance the great experiment which society, governing itself by laws self-imposed, and securing to its members the enjoyfurther to show, that even when the government of life, liberty, property and peace; and ment of its choice shall manifest a tendency to degeneracy, we are not at once to despair but that the will and the watchfulness of its sounder parts will reform its aberrations, recall it to original and legitimate principles and restrain it within the rightful limits of self-government.-VIRGINIA PROTEST. ix, 498. FORD ED., X, 351. (M., 1825.)

7795. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Spaniards and.-I fear the Spaniards are too heavily oppressed by ignorance and superstition for self-government, and whether a change from foreign to domestic despotism will be to their advantage remains to be seen.-To DR. SAMUEL BROWN. vi, 165. (M., 1813.)

7796. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Study of. |—I sincerely think that the prominent characters of the country where you are could not better prepare their sons for the duties they will have to perform in their new government than by sending them here [the University of Virginia] where they might become familiarized with the habits and practice of self-government. This lesson is scarcely to be acquired but in this country, and yet without it, the political vessel is all sail and no ballast. To HENRY DEARBORN. FORD ED., x, 237. (M., 1822.)

7797. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Training for. The qualifications for self-government Jefferson's own county.-EDITOR..

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Except that of living under a government of unlimited powers."-EDITOR. General Dearborn was then Minister to Portugal. -EDITOR.

in society are not innate. They are the result of habit and long training.*—TO EDWARD EVERETT. vii, 341. (M., 1824.)

7798. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Universal. I wish to see all mankind exercising self-government, and capable of exercising it. -TO MARQUIS LAFAYETTE. vii, 67. FORD ED., X, 85. (M., 1817.)

7799. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Usurpation and.―[The] exercises of usurped power [by Parliament] have not been confined to instances alone in which themselves were interested, but they have also intermeddled with the regulation of the internal affairs of the

Colonies.-RIGHTS OF BRITISH AMERICA. 130. FORD ED., i, 434. (1774.)

i,

Volun

7800. SELF-GOVERNMENT, tary associations and.-If [the society] is merely a voluntary association, the submission of its members will be merely voluntary also, as no act of coercion would be permitted by the general law.-To WILLIAM LEE. vii. 57. (M., 1817.)

7801. SELF-PRESERVATION, Law of. -The law of self-preservation overrules the laws of obligation to others.-OPINION ON FRENCH TREATIES. vii, 613. FORD ED., vi, 221. (1793.)

7802. SENATE (French), Plan of They [the French] propose a Senate, chosen on the plan of our Federal Senate by the Provincial Assemblies, but to be for life, of a certain age (they talk of forty years), and certain wealth (four or five hundred guineas a year), but to have no other power as to laws but to remonstrate against them to the representatives, who will then determine their fate by a simple majority. This * is a mere council of revision like that of New York, which, in order to be something, must form an alliance with the King, to avail themselves of his veto. The alliance will be useful to both, and to the nation.-TO JAMES MADISON. iii, 97. FORD ED., V, 108. Aug. 1789.)

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as positively. Of this a cabal in the Senate of the United States has furnished many proofs.-To JOHN ADAMS. vi, 224. FORD ED., ix, 426. (M., 1813.)

7806. SENATE (United States), Check on House of Representatives.-The Senate was intended as a check on the will of the Representatives when too hasty. They are not only that, but completely so on the will of the people also; and in my opinion are heaping coals of fire, not only on their persons, but on their body, as a branch of the Legislature. * It seems that the opinion is fairly launched into public that they should be placed under the control of a more frequent recurrence to the will of their constituents. This seems requisite to complete the experiment, whether they do more harm or good.-To JAMES MADISON. iv, 107. FORD ED., vi, 511. (M., May 1794.)

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7807. SENATE (United States), Executive and.-The President desired my opinion whether the Senate has a right to negative the grade he may think it expedient to use in a foreign mission as well as the person to be appointed. I think the Senate has no right to negative the grade.-OPINION ON THE POWERS OF THE SENATE. vii, 465. FORD ED., v, 161. (1790.)

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It may be objected that the Senate may by continual negatives on the person, do what amounts to a negative on the grade, and so, indirectly, defeat this right of the President. But this would be a breach of trust; an abuse of the power confided to the Senate, of which that body cannot be supposed capable.-OPINION ON THE POWERS OF (P., THE SENATE. vii, 466. FORD ED., V, 162. (1790.) See APPOINTMENT.

7803. SENATE (United States), Advice and consent.-When the British treaty of arrived, without any provision against the impressment of our seamen, I determined not to ratify it. The Senate thought I should ask their advice. I thought that would be a mockery of them, when I was predetermined against following it, should they advise ratification.-TO SPENCER ROANE. vii, 135. FORD ED., X, 142. (P.F., Sep. 1819.) 7804. The Constitution has made the advice of the Senate necessary to confirm a treaty, but not to reject it. This has been blamed by some; but I have never doubted its soundness.-To SPENCER ROANE. vii, 135. FORD ED., X, 142. (P.F., 1819.)

7805. SENATE (United States), Cabal in. Mischief may be done negatively as well * Jefferson was considering the condition of affairs in South America, and he added, " for these (habit and training). they will require time and probably much suffering ".-EDITOR.

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courts, they would be the better enabled to decide, if they were informed of the state of our affairs at those courts, and what we had to do there. [Jefferson then explained the situation of affairs.]-THE ANAS. ix, 420. FORD ED., i, 170. (W., January 1792.)

7811. SENATE (United States), Firmness.-The Senate alone remained undis

mayed to the last. Firm to their purposes, regardless of public opinion, and more disposed to coerce than to court it, not a man of their majority gave way in the least.-To JAMES MADISON. iv, 330. FORD ED., vii, 447. (Pa., May 1800.)

7812. SENATE (United States), Honorable. The Senate is the most honorable and independent station in our government, one where you can peculiarly raise yourself in the public estimation.-To WILLIAM SHORT. FORD ED., V, 244. (M., 1790.)

7813. SENATE (United States), Jefferson's address to.-To give the usual opportunity of appointing a President pro tempore, I now propose to retire from the chair of the Senate; and, as the time is near at hand when the relations will cease which have for some time subsisted between this honorable house and myself, I beg leave, before I withdraw, to return them my grateful thanks for all the instances of attention and respect with which they have been pleased to honor me. In the discharge of my functions here, it has been my conscientious endeavor to observe impartial justice, without regard to persons or subjects; and if I have failed in impressing this on the mind of the Senate, it will be to me a circumstance of the deepest regret. I may have erred at times. No doubt I have erred. This is the law of human nature. For honest errors, however, indulgence may be hoped. I owe to truth and justice at the same time to declare that the habits

of order and decorum, which so strongly characterize the proceedings of the Senate, have rendered the umpirage of their president an office of little difficulty; that in times and on questions which have severely tried

the sensibilities of the house, calm and temperate discussion has rarely been disturbed by departures from order. Should the support which I received from the Senate, in the performance of my duties here, attend me into the new station to which the public will has transferred me, I shall consider it as commencing under the happiest auspices. With these expressions of my dutiful regard to the Senate, as a body, I ask leave to mingle my particular wishes for the health and happiness of the individuals who compose it, and to tender them my cordial and respectful adieu. -SPEECH TO THE U. S. SENATE. iv, 362. FORD ED., Vii, 501. (Feb. 28, 1801.)

7814. SENATE (United States), John Adams's opinions.-The system of the Senate may be inferred from their transactions heretofore, and from the following declaration made to me personally by their oracle [President Adams]: "No republic can ever

be of any duration without a Senate, and a Senate deeply and strongly rooted; strong enough to bear up against all popular storms and passions. The only fault in the constitution of our Senate is, that their term of office is not durable enough. Hitherto they have done well, but probably they will be forced to give way in time." I suppose

their having done well hitherto ", alluded to the stand they made on the British treaty. This declaration may be considered as their text; that they consider themselves as the bulwarks of the government, and will be rendering that the more secure, in proportion as they can assume greater powers.-To JAMES MADISON. iv, 215. FORD ED., vii, 207. (Pa., Feb. 1798.)

7815.

President Adams and I got on the Constitution; and in the course of our conversation he said, that no republic could ever last which had not a Senate, and a Senate deeply and strongly rooted, strong enough to bear up against all popular storms and passions; that he thought our Senate as well constituted as it could have been, being chosen by the Legislatures; for if these could not support them, he did not know what could do it; that perhaps it might have been as well for them to be chosen by the State at large, as that would insure a choice of distinguished men, since none but such could be known to a whole people; that the only fault in our Senate was that it was not durable enough, that, hitherto, it had behaved very well; however, he was afraid they would give That as to trusting to a way in the end. popular assembly for the preservation of our nable; they never had any rule of decision liberties, it was the merest chimera imagibut their own will, that he would as lieve be again in the hands of our old committees of safety, who made the law and executed it at the same time; that it had been observed by mischief in one night than tyranny in an age: some writer * that anarchy did more and that in modern times we might say with truth, that in France, anarchy had done more harm in one night, than all the despotism of their kings had ever done in twenty or thirty years. The point in which he views our Senate, as the Colossus of the Constitution, serves as a key to the politics of the Senate. who are two-thirds of them in his sentiments. and accounts for the bold line of conduct they FORD ED., 1, pursue. THE ANAS. ix, 189. 277. (Nov. 1798.)

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7816. SENATE (United States), Nominations.-Should the [federalists] yield the election, I have reason to expect, in the outset, the greatest difficulties as to nominations. The late incumbents, running away from their offices and leaving them vacant, will prevent my filling them without the previous advice of the Senate. How this difficulty is to be iv. 355. FORD ED., vii, 491. (W., Feb. 1801.) got over I know not.-To JAMES MONROE.

7817. SENATE (United States), People and.—In the General Government, the Senate is scarcely republican at all, as not

Thomas Jefferson

Marble statue by Hiram Powers.

Age unknown

Bought by the United States Government in 1855 for the sum of $10,000. It stands in a niche at the foot of the marble staircase leading to the gallery of the House of Representatives. United States Capitol.

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