"The happiness and prosperity of our citizens... is the only legitimate object of government and the first duty of governors." – Thomas Jefferson (Jefferson 684)
"The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government." - Thomas Jefferson (Platt 151)
"The only orthodox object of the institution of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it." – Thomas Jefferson (Beigbeder 23)
The idea in these quotes underlies every endeavor our government has ever rightly taken, and was an idea propagated by Jefferson more than any other founding father. He included it prominently in the Declaration of Independence, any letter he ever wrote on good government, and in countless speeches to remind the American people why their government was in place and why it was formed in the way it was. I think that, because of this continuous utterance of the idea, perhaps no one had a clearer idea of the purpose of our government, and therefore no one worked so hard to form a government in the form that would accomplish this idea of happiness and prosperity for any citizen that would choose to pursue it.
The Declaration of Independence was our government’s first article, and remains today one of the most important articles ever written in government history. It stated the intent of the American government, a government that survives today and rules over the most powerful and prosperous country in world history. It was of course written by Thomas Jefferson and included the earliest statement of what he believed to be the most important duty of any good government: to create an environment where the rights of people were protected so that they could pursue happiness and the good life. The process of creating our government, from that point on, would revolve around this idea.
"It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen... should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries." – Thomas Jefferson (Melton 123)
Jefferson urged the writing of the Bill of Rights more than any founding father. Jefferson knew that, when the constitution was written, it simply stated what the government could and could not do, and that many founding fathers expected the government to infer from that what rights the people had. He knew this would create a loose form of government where interpretation could easily come into play, and then rights of the citizen could be trampled on due to false interpretations. He supported the authoring of a Bill of Rights to state specifically what rights the people had, ones that the government could not interpret around or take away (Thomas Jefferson on Politics and Government).
The most important statement in distinguishing Thomas Jefferson as the person who should be credited most with our form of government is that it is a near fact that he was the most prominent promoter of Republicanism in early American government history. Republicanism is the predominant underlying system to our government. It stresses rights, the rejection of ideas of aristocracy and inherited political power, the sovereignty of the people as a whole, and the resistance to corruption in government and policy making (Republicanism). Jefferson repeatedly reminded and lectured every founding father and original congressman on the importance of Republicanism and its values. Every founding father continually debated the meaning of Republicanism, but it is Jefferson ’s definition that stands out most today, and that most founding fathers agreed with:
"a government by its citizens in mass, acting directly and personally, according to rules established by the majority; and that every other government is more or less republican, in proportion as it has in its composition more or less of this ingredient of the direct action of the citizens. Such a government is evidently restrained to very narrow limits of space and population. I doubt if it would be practicable beyond the extent of a New England township. The first shade from this pure element, which, like that of pure vital air, cannot sustain life of itself, would be where the powers of the government, being divided, should be exercised each by representatives chosen...for such short terms as should render secure the duty of expressing the will of their constituents. This I should consider as the nearest approach to a pure republic, which is practicable on a large scale of country or population ... we may say with truth and meaning, that governments are more or less republican as they have more or less of the element of popular election and control in their composition; and believing, as I do, that the mass of the citizens is the safest depository of their own rights, and especially, that the evils flowing from the duperies of the people, are less injurious than those from the egoism of their agents, I am a friend to that composition of government which has in it the most of this ingredient." (Republicanism)
There are only a few men that could fall into the debate for the most influential in regards to forming our government. Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton could all easily be included into the debate. Probably none, however, would come to mind as quickly as Thomas Jefferson, the author of the declaration of independence, widely regarded by historians as our most ingenious president, probably the most influential founder of ideas of republicanism, and the forerunner in the promotion of human rights within the American government.
Beigbeder, Yves. International Monitoring of Plebiscites, Referenda and National
Elections. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1994.
Jefferson, Thomas. The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia. Funk & Wagnalls company, 1900.
Melton, Buckner. The Quotable Founding Fathers. Brassey’s, 2004.
Platt, Suzy. Respectfully Quoted. Barnes and Noble Publishing, 1993.
“Republicanism.” Wikipedia.
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“Bill of Rights.” Thomas Jefferson on Politics and Government.
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