From DRHilton@kaiwan.comSat Mar 18 08:41:23 1995
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 09:58:19 -0800
From: "Dennis R. Hilton" 
Reply to: act@fc.net
To: act@fc.net
Subject: Re: Jefferson quote

On Fri, 17 Mar 1995 08:05:56 -0800 (PST), you wrote:
>
>On Fri, 17 Mar 1995, Jim Williams wrote:
>
>> Jim Williams		       |  A little rebellion now and then is a good The
>> The Underground Review      |  thing; the tree of liberty must be refreshed
>> ordway@ionet.net	       |  from time to time with the blood of patriots
>> http://www.ionet.net/~ordway|  and tyrants.		      Thomas Jefferson
>>
>I've heard this Jefferson quote cited on a number of occasions but have
>never heard the source citation or the context.  Can anyone shed some
>additional light.


"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of
patriots and tyrants.  It is its natural manure...."

And two sentences preceding, in the same letter he starts with:

"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from
time to time, that its people preserve the spirit of resistance?  Let them take
arms...."

The above quote was actuallly written in Paris on the subject of the French
Rev. and TJ lamented that the US colonies hadn't had any insurrections
recently.

"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a
rebellion.  The people cannot be all, and always, well informed.
The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the
importance of the facts they misconceive.  If they remain quiet
under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of
death to the public liberty...	And what country can preserve its
liberties if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that
this people preserve the spirit of resistance?	Let them take
arms.  The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon
and pacify them.  What signify a few lives lost in a century or
two?  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time,
with the blood of patriots and tyrants.	 It is its natural
manure."
	   --Thomas Jefferson (letter to William S. Smith, Nov.
	     13, 1787).	 Reproduced in "Thomas Jefferson, a
	     Biography in His Own Words", pub Newsweek Books.

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