Government as well as religion has furnished its schisms, its persecutions and its devices for fattening idleness on the earnings of the people.
Thomas JeffersonTaxation is, in fact, the most difficult function of government and that against which their citizens are most apt to be refractory.
Thomas JeffersonMen possessing minds of the first order and who have had opportunities of being known and of acquiring the general confidence do not abound in any country beyond the wants of the country.
Thomas Jeffersonno one more sincerely wishes the spread of information among mankind than I do, and none has greater confidence in it's effect towards supporting free & good government.
Thomas JeffersonI had no idea, however, that in Pennsylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it [fanaticism] could have arisen to the height you describe. This must be owing to the growth of Presbyterianism. The blasphemy of the five points of Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them, render their advocates impatient of reasoning, irritable, and prone to denunciation.
Thomas Jefferson