State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules.

Thomas Jefferson

Read this letter at the National Archives website

More information about this quote

Topic

Populism Salt of the earth

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1787 1780s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

Occupation

Founding Father American President National leader Politician

From

United States

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Peter Carr. 10 Aug. 1787.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Including the Autobiography, The Declaration of Independence & His Public and Private Letters, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Thomas Jefferson about populism: “State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide…”
Download
A quote by Thomas Jefferson about populism: “State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide…”
Download
A quote by Thomas Jefferson about populism: “State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide…”
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

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched... Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind... We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

Thomas Jefferson

More information about this quote
Topic
Legal theory Political theory Embracing change

Author

Thomas Jefferson
Medium
Letter
Genre
Political writing
Language
English
Time
1816 1810s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Samuel Kercheval. 12 July 1816.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Including the Autobiography, The Declaration of Independence & His Public and Private Letters, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

Another quote from the 1780s

Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.

Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Buy this work at Amazon Buy this work at Amazon
Read this work at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Counterfactual history Inflection points Christianity and Islam

Author

Edward Gibbon
Source
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Genre
Historical literature
Language
English
Time
1789 1780s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 6, London: Strahan & Cadell, 1789, ch. 52.

Current Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-6. Vol. 6. Everyman's Library, 2010, ch. 52.