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.
I was born realizing the flaws in the criminal justice system.
Tenants don't have any right to court-appointed attorneys in civil court, so they're either facing their landlord - or his or her attorney - alone, or they just don't show up. That reflects a severe power imbalance.
It is indeed an odd business that it has taken this Court nearly two centuries to discover a constitutional mandate to have counsel at a preliminary hearing.
Industrialised countries must take the responsibility of helping poorer countries in the climate change action plan.
The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me.
If you ask me what is at the core of what I write, it isn't about 'rights', it's about justice. Justice is a grand, beautiful, revolutionary idea.
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