Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
943
AUTHOR:
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
QUOTATION:
The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric…. A judiciary independent of a king or executive alone, is a good thing; but independence of the will of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government.
ATTRIBUTION:
THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to Thomas Ritchie, December 25, 1820.—The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul L. Ford, vol. 10, pp. 170–71 (1899).
A similar statement is made in Jefferson’s “Autobiography,” Writings, vol. 1, pp. 112–13 (1892).
