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Limited government was certainly Jeffersons aim: "The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." Washington seems to agree, for e
by willcipriano 6y ago
Limited government was certainly Jeffersons aim:
"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."
Washington seems to agree, for example this quote from his farewell address:
"It is important that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position."
- jfengel 6y agoWe should have gone to Jefferson and Washington's farms and taken a vote on what kinds of changes were necessary.
- willcipriano 6y agoIf you think about that a bit more deeply, if Washington and Jefferson had been fans of a strong federal government slavery would've been a federal policy as opposed to a per state policy and likely would've been much more difficult to end as the northern states would've contained slave owners as opposed to only the southern states.