Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the principle that government should only exercise powers explicitly granted to it by the people.
Thomas Jefferson emphasizes that any actions taken by the government that go beyond the powers explicitly delegated to it by the constitution are inherently invalid. This reflects a fundamental belief in the rule of law and the limits of government authority, advocating for the protection of individual liberties against government overreach.
In practice
During a civic engagement seminar discussing the limits of government power.
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
βWe 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.
We used to play marbles for keeps. If you lost, you lost. It is the same way with politics, but not everybody knows this.
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.
What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people involved - versus just having somebody in Washington make a rule.
Black women have been saving this republic since its founding. That was especially so during the Trump era when their turnout helped elect Democrats in unlikely places such as Alabama and Georgia.
This is a country for, of, and by the people not for, of, and by the government. If we turn it over to them we cannot complain about what they're doing because this is a natural course of men and we have to hold their feet to the fire.
We have to repair our country's infrastructure, but we also have to protect and repair the infrastructure of our democracy. It's not either or, it's both and.
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