|
|
======================================================
> There is a quotation, much bandied about in Montana, attributed to > Jefferson which I have been unable to find in your compendium (for which > many thanks). It is this: > > "That government is best which is closest to the people." > > Can you inform me? I have not seen the quotation, "That government is best which is closest to the people." It is a fairly accurate description of Jefferson's political philosophy -- certainly more so than the quote often attributed to Jefferson, "That government is best which governs least," which Jefferson did NOT write. Below is a much longer quotation that expresses the general idea that a government must reflect the sentiments of its people. "The laws... which must effect [a people's happiness] must flow from their own habits, their own feelings, and the resources of their own minds. No stranger to these could possibly propose regulations adapted to them. Every people have their own particular habits, ways of thinking, manners, etc., which have grown up with them from their infancy, are become a part of their nature, and to which the regulations which are to make them happy must be accommodated." --Thomas Jefferson to William Lee, 1817. ME 15:101 The idea of rightful government being close to the will of the people seems to pervade much of Jefferson's writings, as in: "It accords with our principles to acknowledge any government to be rightful which is formed by the will of the nation substantially declared." --Thomas Jefferson to Gouverneur Morris, 1792. ME 8:437 But I am not aware of a statement by Jefferson in precisely the words about which you inquire.