This formidable censor of the public functionaries [the press], by arraigning them at the tribunal of public opinion, produces reform peaceably, which must otherwise be done by revolution. It is also the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man and improving him as a rational, moral, and social being.
Interpretation
The press serves to hold public officials accountable and promotes social reform peacefully.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the essential role of the press as a watchdog over public officials, suggesting that by scrutinizing their actions in the court of public opinion, the press fosters peaceful reform that could otherwise lead to revolutionary upheaval. He highlights that the press not only advocates for accountability but also plays a critical role in educating and elevating individuals as rational, moral, and social beings, ultimately contributing to the improvement of society as a whole.
In practice
During a political rally, one might quote Jefferson to stress the importance of journalism in promoting transparency.
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.
People who study the way religions develop have shown that if you have a charismatic teacher, and you don't have an institution develop around that teacher within about a generation to transmit succession within the group, the movement just dies.
Why did God create mankind? Because God likes stories.
One section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended.
Our great modern Republic. May those who seek the blessings of its institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations they impose.
Suicide is the means of men whose resilience has been eaten away by rust, the rust of the daily round. They were born for action, but they have delayed their action; so action turns back on them with the swing of a pendulum. Suicide is an act, the act of those who have not been able to accomplish others. It is an act of faith, like all acts. Faith in one’s neighbor, in the existence of one’s neighbor, in the reality of the self and the other selves.
Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life.
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