Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson

Today is Thomas Jefferson's 266th birthday.

Besides being a remarkable statesman, Thomas Jefferson was a farmer. At one time, he grew over 100 different vegetables in his garden at Monticello. In 1785, he wrote: "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands."

He also liked to sing. According to his contemporaries, Jefferson constantly sang to himself, as he wrote, gardened or merely went about his daily routine. (They don't tell us how good he was.)

Jefferson adored ice cream; according to some reports it was he who introduced the delicacy from France in the 1700s.

So, in honor of Jefferson's birthday, treat yourself to some ice cream, sing "Happy Birthday," RE-READ YOUR CONSTITUTION, and plant that Victory Garden!

Some of my favorite Jefferson quotes:

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.

A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.

Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the ‘wall of separation between church and state,’ therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.

Confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism. Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence.

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