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It's unclear to me which party "them" refers to in your quote. The rulers, or the people? Any references where Jefferson expounds on his concerns over "misinfor

• krapp 5y ago
  The quote comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to William Smith regarding Shay's Rebellion. You can find a transcript here[0] and easily elsewhere on the web, but I've excised the relevant text, emphasis mine: "(...) yet where does this anarchy exist? where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusets? and can history produce an instance of a rebellion so honourably conducted? I say nothing of it's motives. they were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. god forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. the people cannot be all, & 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 a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. we have had 13. states independant 11. years. there has been one rebellion. that comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. what country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's 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 & pacify them." It doesn't make sense that "them" refers to the rulers, in context it obviously refers to the people taking arms. [0]https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/105.html https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/105.html