All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

Thomas Jefferson

First Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson

Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon Buy a book containing this speech at Amazon
Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website

More information about this quote

Topic

Majority rule Minority rights Democracy Political theory

Speaker

Thomas Jefferson

Source

First Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson Presidential inaugural address

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1801 1800s 19th century

Occupation

Founding Father American President National leader Politician

From

United States

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "First Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1801, Senate Chamber, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Thomas Jefferson about majority rule: “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will…”
Download
A quote by Thomas Jefferson about majority rule: “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will…”
Download
A quote by Thomas Jefferson about majority rule: “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will…”
Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Thomas Jefferson

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.

Thomas Jefferson

More information about this quote
Topic
Downsides of freedom Freedom

Author

Thomas Jefferson
Medium
Letter
Language
English
Time
1791 1790s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Archibald Stuart. 23 Dec. 1791.

Another quote from the 1800s

O, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!

Sir Walter Scott

Read Marmion at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Consequences of lying Unintended consequences Lying

Author

Sir Walter Scott
Source
Marmion
Medium
Poem
Statement Type
Proverbs, aphorisms and adages
Language
English
Time
1808 1800s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Scott, Walter, Sir. Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co./London: William Miller and John Murray, 1808, canto 6, st. 17.

Another quote about Political theory

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

John Adams

Read this letter at the National Archives website
More information about this quote
Topic
Morality and politics Political theory American experiment

Author

John Adams
Source
Letters of John Adams
Medium
Letter
Language
English
Time
1798 1790s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Adams, John. Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts. 11 Oct. 1798.

Another quote from the following genre Political speech

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man, without at last finding the other end of it fastened about his own neck.

More information about this quote
Topic
Consequences of oppression
Speaker
Frederick Douglass
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1883 1880s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Douglass, Frederick. Speech in Washington, D.C. Civil Rights Mass Meeting. 22 Oct. 1883, Lincoln Hall, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Douglass, Frederick. "This Decision Has Humbled the Nation (1883)." The Speeches of Frederick Douglass, edited by John R. McKivigan, Julie Husband and Heather L. Kaufman. Yale University Press, 2018.