On every question of construction (of the Constitution) let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit of the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes understanding the Constitution through the context of its creation rather than manipulating its language.
Thomas Jefferson urges us to interpret the Constitution by returning to the historical context and intentions of its framers. He suggests that rather than trying to extract vague meanings or distort the text, we should aim to grasp the original spirit and debates that shaped the document's creation, which allows for a more authentic and faithful understanding of its purpose.
In practice
This quote could be used in a lecture about constitutional law to emphasize historical interpretation.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains.
Christianity, whatever else it is, is an explosion. Unless it is sensational there is simply no sense in it. Unless the Gospel sounds like a gun going off it has not been uttered at all.
This England never did, nor never shall, _x000D_ _x000D_ Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror.
There's certainly nothing original about the observation that conscious experience poses a hard problem.
When I wake up, I wake to something worse. It’s the astonishment of being myself
The perfect knowledge of events cannot be acquired without divine inspiration, since all prophetic inspiration receives its prime motivating force from God the creator, then from good fortune and nature.
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