Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

by Jon Meacham

Sir Francis Bacon, John Locke, and Sir Isaac Newton,

am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another: for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the Constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.67 And I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its branches; and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred name of philosophy…[and not] to go backwards instead of forwards to look for improvement, to believe that government, religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance, and that nothing can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by our forefathers.… The first object of my heart is my own country. In that is embarked my family, my fortune, and my own existence. I have not one farthing of interest, nor one fiber of attachment out of it, nor a single motive of preference of any one nation to another but in proportion as they are more or less friendly to us.

All … will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.

Jefferson’s decision to reserve unto himself the authority to decide whether to obey a summons to testify set a significant precedent in executive power: The