But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Interpretation
Citizens have the right and responsibility to overthrow a government that becomes tyrannical.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of recognizing and acting against government actions that violate the rights and freedoms of the people. It advocates for the right to revolt against oppression and to establish a new governing body that ensures the safety and liberty of its citizens.
In practice
In a speech about civil rights, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of standing up against oppressive laws.
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.
Life, and you, and I, and all of us together became for a while interesing to ourselves once more.
Become aware, awake. Then you will see that everything comes and goes, all things come and pass. Life is a flux. Your consciousness is the only thing that is immovable, that is eternal. To attain it is freedom. To attain it is the goal of life. If you miss it you have missed your life and you have missed a tremendously great gift, a great opportunity.
The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.
Modesty and conscientiousness receive their reward only in novels. In life they are exploited and then shoved aside.
I hear the ruin of all space, shattered glass and toppled masonry, and time one livid final flame.
Lying is the most simple form of self-defence.
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