Thomas Jefferson Quotes About Rebellion

• 

  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

  Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

• I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Presidential, Political, Storm

  Letter to James Madison, 30 Jan. 1787

• When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Law, Rebellion, Duty

• What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to 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

  Country, Freedom, Gun

  Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

• [The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be construed into an intention to surrender those rights.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Government, Law

• On every unauthoritative exercise of power by the legislature must the people rise in rebellion or their silence be construed into a surrender of that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should we have had already?

  Thomas Jefferson

  Exercise, People, Silence

  Thomas Jefferson, Richard Holland Johnston, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”

• A little rebellion now and then... is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wisdom, Government, Medicine

  Letter to James Madison, 30 Jan. 1787

• Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Oppression, Rebellion, Obedience

• A little rebellion is a good thing.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Change, Littles, Rebellion

• What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment ... inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Compassion, Rose

  Letter to Jean Nicholas Demeunier, 24 Jan. 1786

• The late rebellion in Massachusetts has given more alarm than I think it should have done. Calculate that one rebellion in thirteen states in the course of eleven years, is but one for each state in a century and a half. No country should be so long without one. Nor will any degree of power in the hands of government prevent insurrections.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wisdom, Country, Thinking

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, Correspondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the United States”, p.277

• A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. In order to flourish, the tree of Liberty needs the blood of patriots and tyrants.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Blood, Order, Tyrants

• God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Years, Second Amendment, Twenties

  Thomas Jefferson (1861). “Correspondence”, p.318

• I hold it that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms are in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people, which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is medicine necessary for the sound health of government.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Government, Punishment

  Letter to James Madison, 30 Jan. 1787

• Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions? Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good, that operation is now become habitual and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Real, Party, Government

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, 2: Correspondence and Private Papers”, p.346

• I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Atmosphere, Storm, Littles

  Thomas Jefferson (1984). “Jefferson: Writings”, p.1135, Library of America

• God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion... We have had thirteen States independent for eleven years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half, for each State. What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wisdom, Country, Independent

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoirs, Correspondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the United States”, p.268

You May Also Like:

John Adams

George Washington

James Madison

Benjamin Franklin

Alexander Hamilton

Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Paine