Thomas Jefferson Quote 

"On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry
ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect
the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning
may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the
probable one in which it was passed."

by:
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
Source:
to Justice William Johnson, 1823, The Complete Jefferson, p. 322
Categories:
 
Bookmark and Share

Reader comments about this quote:
Excellent definition and reason.
 -- Robert, Sarasota		 
Can Democrats, liberals and Socialists even read this without their faces shattering and heads exploding? I can hardly wait for A(li). Reston and his band of thieves to comment on this.
 -- helorat, Milton		 
 -- Mike, Norwalk 
helorat, this blog is not for person quips but intelligent dialogue.
 -- Anonymous		 
As a Democrat, liberal and socialist, I gave it 5 even though it may not be probable...
 -- Robert, Sarasota		 
Unfortunately, no one in Congress knows the "spirit manifested in the debates" nor do the People. I think most Americans would be surprised to learn the true nature of American common law and Liberty. For sure the meaning of the clauses in the Constitution has been squeezed beyond recognition. Independence now means 'dependence' and Liberty is simply 'license'. I sure hope that one day that 'spirit' will return to the People in enough strength to restore the American character into something we can all be proud of again. My guess is that since the world is getting smaller, that the next 'revolution' will be worldwide when we cast off the chains of the jackals that have enslaved us -- the banks!
 -- E Archer, NYC		 
Very Good Archer - not just the banks but corporate greed also...
 -- Robert, Sarasato		 
Thomas probably would be crucified today. Or at least stoned to death. How dare he attack our "living" document the Constitution.
 -- warren, olathe		 
Wish our legislators and judges would refer to this. Other quotes by other founding fathers, similar to this one, also can be found. We absolutely must use and refer to these valuable resources. But currently, our government is not. The tyranny, and loss of liberty due to the abuses of it, have gone too far already. Make your voice heard. Contact your representatives on issues that obviously are not Constitutional.
 -- Nancy, Marion, OH		 
In other words: Do not employ the nasty lawyer trick of using words to make it seem as if...they teach this nasty trick in law school and then those very persons - lawyers - hold the majority of offices of legal power thus manipulate the law by manipulating you; they condition you with fancy, sneaky, tricky word usage and word placement; often they deliberately use words to assault and batter you. They want and need to convince you their Bill, their legal argument or their decision and order is our law when it is not or that it is good for you when it is anything but and that their actions are justified when they aren’t. There's actual reason I despise lawyers and that we refer to them as snakes and actual reason we did not make law school a requirement to then hold an office of public trust: Snakes aren't trustworthy; they have no moral authority. Eve made this mistake for us so we never had to make it but you cannot reason with some people, can you? They are bound and determined to repeat the Fall of Man only name it Bush V Gore instead thus it seems as if it is not original sin when it is as we knew different but did it over again in spite of our past experience and in spite of our knowledge that some snakes are poisonous. You expect me to truly believe that not one other person knows Bush V Gore is a tie, 5 as 1 versus 4 as 1, as 9 as 5-4 as 1 NEVER adds up and never matches are exactly worded law – one man one vote or one body of government one vote? You can and may label it “5-4 as 9 as 1” but it is still Justices voting twice, an illegal third party award of our custody to lawyers not on the ballot and not to Bush or Gore as they did not act pro se thus proving they lack the human ability and/or willingness to defend the Constitution and is a violation of the separation of power as the only two forms of the power of one SCOTUS may use is 9-0 or 9 as 1, all 9 the same as 1 or 1 alone which is a Chief Justice standing down the sitting President. Any dissent in a decision regarding a Presidential election? An automatic tie; it is then thrown back to the people. You all failed thus sinned. You all obeyed an illegal and unconstitutional order thus you’re liable. You’re paying for it, aren’t you? YOU come after SCOTUS as SCOTUS is not named in our law as the court of last resort or the court of constitutional authority as Congress never got around to amending it after Marbury. We did not intend to make SCOTUS the authority that could then break our will - violate our vote - leaving us with no recourse, did we? We intended to make the people the authority as the people are always to stand upon the law thus are their own authority. We intended for you to be self-governing and self-adjudicating and not for SCOTUS to become the boss of you whether it adds correctly or not. What is SCOTUS’ legal defense? We are above the law, as we are not named within the law??? We can so we will??? If that is your legal defense you are confessing; you intended to violate the law. You’re better off pleading temporary insanity as I intend to clean your clock in SCOTUS itself when I finally get out of federal appeals. John Roberts and the clerks intend to defend themselves pro se and are now, lol. See federal appeals case # 09-10661-C, myself Versus Obama, Roberts, Various Clerks of SCOTUS and you, the US. Appeals intended to hide it from you by renaming the case myself Versus USA so you would not catch on aka get wise. The founders intended to put an end to this sort of nonsense once and for all which then reasons why we bothered to write it down: We intended for you to know as ignorance is never an excuse. For a Justice or federal judge or even a President to harm you? You intended to become a willing victim.
 -- T. Jefferson, Neptune Beach, FL		 
The US Constitution means nothing to our leaders in Washington in 2009. The Constitution has been steadily eroded by our leaders for a good many years. It seems to have taken the blatancy of an all out assault by the Obama administration to finally wake many of us up.
 -- Nancy, Ohio		 
 -- Nancy, OH 
Bookmark and Share
Rate this quote!
How many stars?
0
1
2
3
4
5
 
What do YOU think?
Your name:
Your town:
    CLICK JUST ONCE!

  
Get a Quote-A-Day! Free!
Liberty Quotes sent to your mail box.
Email:
 
This site is supported
by donors like you!

More Quotations

Read the Bills Act Coalition
Quotes & Quotations - Send This Quote to a Friend

© 1998-2008 Liberty-Tree.ca