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>I have been trying to verify a statement often attributed to Jefferson, >"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." > >Can you straighten this out? It was not written by Jefferson, though he wrote something fairly close. Bartlett's "Familiar Quotations" credits it to John Philpot Curran, a contemporary of Jefferson. Bartlett's says it is "commonly quoted" as you state it above. However, the original says a lot more, IMO: "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." Jefferson wrote the following, expressing approximately the same sentiments: "Lethargy [is] the forerunner of death to the public liberty." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. "We, I hope, shall adhere to our republican government and keep it to its original principles by narrowly watching it." --Thomas Jefferson to ------, March 18, 1793. ME 9:45 "I do most anxiously wish to see the highest degrees of education given to the higher degrees of genius and to all degrees of it, so much as may enable them to read and understand what is going on in the world and to keep their part of it going on right; for nothing can keep it right but their own vigilant and distrustful superintendence." --Thomas Jefferson to Mann Page, 1795. ME 9:306 The "eternal vigilance" statement is often attributed to Jefferson, and I think I have seen it attributed to other persons also. > I have looked at least cursorily through your very interesting site > collecting and organization Jefferson quotations. I had been looking > for a source for the statement commonly attributed to Jefferson that > "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Bartlett's attributes a > similar quotation to John Philpot Curran, dating from 1790. Without question, the best, most reliable source. > Have I > missed something, or is the attribution to Jefferson what in politically > correct times I should call an "old spouse's tale?" Any enlightenment > you can shed on this issue would be most welcome. > As long as it doesn't put you out too much, I'd be > delighted to get from you any Jefferson statements resembling the > "eternal vigilance" (bogus) quote. If it's just a matter of thumbing > (electronically) through your web site, though, you needn't take the > trouble. Well, of course, it is the latter. It is my intention to include every significant quote of Jefferson related to the principles of politics and government on my site, so anything I was aware of would be there. I do have a whole section on "citizen vigilance" at the end of Chapter 52, which includes the following: "Lethargy [is] the forerunner of death to the public liberty." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. You will observe that this statement of Jefferson is really the mirror image of the spurious quote. Instead of vigilance and the price, we have lack of vigilance and the result. > I assume, by the way, that if you knew who *was* the source of the > "eternal vigilance" quote (aside from John Philpot Curran's less pithy > rendition) you would have told me. I guess I'll have to track that down > on my own. I suspect that some editor (much like myself; though I swear I would never do this to Jefferson) took the Curran quote and "pithified" it. I do that sort of thing on my "Thought for Today" website, but I usually rename the author "Anonymous." Thus, I doubt if you will ever be able to track down the Pithifier. ;-) Sometimes the OED identifies such beginnings. > > "Lethargy [is] the forerunner of death to the public liberty." --Thomas > > Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. > > This is, of course, far better than John Philpott Curran. Although I'm > disappointed that someone other than Jefferson advocated "eternal > vigilance" in so many words, I'm relieved that he said something just as > good. I thought I would send you the larger context for the Jefferson quote above. He argues that "vigilance" is essential, even when it is over an issue on which the people are wrong! But a moment's thought proves that it has to be that way, else it is not true vigilance at all. The larger quote is: "The people cannot be all, and 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." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. Thus, protest is a "good" in itself. Of course, it is one thing to be wrong about an issue, and another to protest in wrongful and criminal ways. Thomas Jefferson would never have approved of Timothy McVeigh.