Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of providing fair and impartial treatment to all individuals, regardless of their background or beliefs.
Thomas Jefferson's quote advocates for the principle of equality and fairness within the legal system. It asserts that justice should be administered equally to everyone without favoritism or prejudice, regardless of one's social status, beliefs, or affiliations. This foundational idea promotes a just society where all people can expect to be treated with fairness and dignity.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about legal reforms aimed at ensuring equality.
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.
And so I would not enforce a law that would reject people and turn them away without giving them a fair and due process to determine if we should give them asylum and refuge.
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.
In the unceasing ebb and flow of justice and oppression we must all dig channels as best we may, that at the propitious moment somewhat of the swelling tide may be conducted to the barren places of life.
You white folks have long been eating the white meat of the chicken. We Negroes are now ready for some of the white meat instead of the dark meat.
When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.
Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.
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