Sunday, August 2, 2015

Thomas Jefferson on Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.



Thomas Jefferson
was a very remarkable man who started
learning very
early in life and never stopped.


At 5, began
studying under his cousin's tutor.


At 9, studied
Latin, Greek and French.


At 14, studied
classical literature and additional languages.


At 16, entered
the College of William and Mary.
Also could write in Greek with one hand
while writing the same in Latin with the other.


At 19, studied
Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.


At 23, started
his own law practice.


At 25, was
elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.


At 31, wrote the
widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America" And
retired from his law practice.

At 32, was a
delegate to the Second Continental Congress.


At 33, wrote the
Declaration of Independence.


At 33, took
three years to revise Virginia's legal code and wrote a Public Education
bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.


At 36, was
elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick
Henry.


At 40, served in
Congress for two years.


At 41, was the
American minister to France and
negotiated commercial treaties with
European nations
along with Ben
Franklin and John Adams..


At 46, served as
the first Secretary of State
under George
Washington.


At 53, served as
Vice President and was elected
president of the American Philosophical
Society.


At 55, drafted
the Kentucky Resolutions and
became the active head of Republican
Party.


At 57, was
elected the third president of the
United
States.


At 60, obtained
the Louisiana Purchase doubling
the nation's
size.


At 61, was
elected to a second term as President.


At 65, retired
to Monticello ..


At 80, helped
President Monroe shape the
Monroe
Doctrine.


At 81, almost
single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first
president.


At 83, died on
the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along
with John Adams.


Thomas Jefferson
knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government.
He understood
actual history, the nature of God, His laws and the nature
of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand
today.


Jefferson really
knew his stuff.


A voice from the
past to lead us in the future:


John F. Kennedy
held a dinner in the White House for a group of the brightest minds
in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps
the assembly of
the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in
the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined
alone."




"When we
get piled upon one another in large cities, as in
Europe,
we shall
become as corrupt as Europe ." --
Thomas
Jefferson


"The
democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those
who are
willing to work and give to those who would not."
--
Thomas
Jefferson


"It is
incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A
principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the
world."
--
Thomas
Jefferson


"I
predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of
them." --
Thomas
Jefferson


"My
reading of history convinces me that most bad government
results
from too much government." --
Thomas
Jefferson


"No free
man shall ever be debarred the use of
arms." --
Thomas
Jefferson


"The
strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms
is,
as a
last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government."
--
Thomas
Jefferson


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


"To
compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he
disbelieves
and
abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
--
Thomas
Jefferson


Thomas
Jefferson said in 1802:


"I
believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than
standing armies.


If the
American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their
currency,
first by
inflation, then by deflation,
the
banks and corporations that will grow up around
the banks
will
deprive the people of all property -
until
their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers
conquered."

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