Thomas Jefferson Letter Shay's Rebellion

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson is arguably one of the most influential people to Virginia and the United States before and during the American Revolution. Jefferson had been a governor for Virginia during the American Revolution, he had wrote the Declaration of Independence along with four other notable American politicians, and served as a minister to France in 1785-1789. Without Jefferson the American Revolution most likely would have played out completely different and we could possibly be living a different life today.

It’s an idea that Thomas Jefferson supported his whole life, from the writing of the Declaration of Independence to his presidency and even after. In his own words, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” The moment when this idea was most prominent in his life was when he wrote the Kentucky Resolutions in 1798. The Kentucky Resolutions were a reaction the Alien and Sedition Acts imposed by President John Adams at the time. The acts stated that it was treasonous to criticize the government in times of war. Jefferson saw this as an obvious violation of the Bill of Rights, and wrote his resolutions, which included something called the theory of nullification. The theory of nullification stated that if a law is unjust or unconstitutional that a state has the right to nullify or invalidate it. This can be seen as the first appearance of an idea of civil disobedience. The disobedience of the Alien and Sedition acts helped preserve our standard of free speech that we still uphold

Jefferson listed the tyranny acts the King and the government has been committing. He states, “For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our government.” This quote was an example of the list which opened the colonists’ eyes allowing them to realize how they have been blind to the actions that have been taken regarding their rights. As a result, the colonists became passionate about becoming independent and creating the laws that were necessary, reasonable, and didn’t contradict their

Works Cited Sadosky, L. J. (2016). Jefferson, Thomas. Worldbookonline.com. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar286800&st=thomas+jefferson#tab=homepage Thomas Jefferson. (2009).

The Declaration of Independence was written justifying the reasons for revolting against the British rule. It served three purposes, outlining its theory of government, listing complaints, and declaring war. The main complaint was the passage of unfavorable laws in England that affected the colonists yet they were not represented within the English Parliament to air the opinions while such laws were being passed. Though appearing like a logical argument, the British might have viewed it as diluting their power within their own parliament. Another complaint was the King’s role in making it difficult for the Colonists to participate in governance; this might also have been seen as undermining the British power in America and then there was forbidding laws that would have established significant judiciary powers. The King being the supreme source of justice might have viewed it as undermining

Thomas Jefferson's ideals and beliefs were derived from a deep regard for life, liberty, and freedom. His concept of individual freedoms strongly disagreed with the notion of a "guided republic" which he believed concentrated a great deal unchecked power among a few people. This could have the potential of tyrannical government that might suppress personal freedoms of any kind especially those of religion, which Jefferson feels very strongly felt should be protected. After fighting hard to rid America of British domination, Jefferson was determined to create a government that was responsible to, and derived its powers from, a free people. As the writer of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for

Thomas Jefferson spent most of his career in public office and made his greatest contributions to his country in the field of politics. He loved liberty in every form, and he worked for freedom of speech, press, religion, and other civil liberties. Jefferson was the 3rd president of the United States and best remembered as a great president and as the author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson's interests and talents covered an amazing range. He became one of the leading American architects of his time and designed the Virginia Capital, the University of Virginia, and his own home, Monticello. He greatly appreciated art and music and tried to encourage their advancement in the United States. He also won lasting

“I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing” (Jefferson). Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in a letter to James Madison after hearing about Shay’s Rebellion while he was a foreign diplomat in Paris. After the rebellion happened, the “Shaysites” as they were called, were labeled as traitors to their country and the democratic form of government. But were they really? Many of the men fighting in the rebellion felt that they were being oppressed just as they had been under British rule.

To prove this in the letter from Thomas Jefferson it says, “What country before has existed without a rebellion? …. Tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” With this evidence, you can see his message was indeed saying that you needed a rebellion because of those who had been oppressed by tyrants and those who tried so hard to win against Britain, Patriots, which assumedly means that the rebels were Patriots before and they were just tired of taxes and being controlled by the government, that they needed a change to relieve themselves and if that simmered inside of them a war could have happened instead of just a measly rebellion. So yes, this rebellion was necessary so that may have been why many called them freedom fighters because they tried to make a change. Also in the letter by T. Jefferson it states that, “and in the spur of the moment {I worry they will over-react}.”

Interpretations of, and opinion on, Shay’s rebellion by political figures of the day often conflicted. In a letter to Senator William S. Smith Thomas Jefferson praised the spirit of the rebels claiming their motives were founded “in ignorance, not wickedness” and

Jefferson mentioned that the federal government does not hold the right to exercise power that was not specified in the Constitution, and that the sole purpose of the unity of the states are not for the purpose of a general government, but to be under one that allows self-government. He also mentioned the dilemma involving the Louisiana Purchase and the desire to expand for the sake of future generations. Through his actions and beliefs, he even gained some people to go against him. Thus, through all of this, it is clear that even when Thomas Jefferson left an old position to assume a new position, he held onto his beliefs on

Jefferson’s main goal is to acquire the maximum freedom that would allow the country to remain benign and not allow chaos. He had a fear of tyranny and thought in terms of freedom, which could be advantageous to our young country but, if the government is not able to find a balance between law and freedom, could also be his hamartia and cause pandemonium throughout America .

. .. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed….Let them take arms. …The tree of liberty must be refreshed, from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” (Jefferson) As we look back we can see two separate sides of the argument, one opposing the rebellion and one supporting it. When looking at the quote previously stated we see an argument in favor of the rebellion. “The people cannot be all, and always, well informed.” Some hardships in this world can go unnoticed by the people that do not experience them, and the hardships of this time were high taxes. With this, a high tax burden to pay off war debts owed to the mercantilists fell hardest on farmers, who were required also to pay in specie. (Jensen 240) Reform did not take place until protests occurred that went beyond the boundaries of legislative requests. The farmers initial protesting began innocently and peacefully. Between 1784 and 1787, yeomen (a landholder) in Massachusetts towns sent petitions to the General Court in Boston. Many farmers went to county conventions to expose their economic grievances (Szatmary 38). Through many conventions and town meetings held from 1784 to 1786, not once was an overthrow of the government in the conversation (Szatmary 43). The farmers made an effort towards reform, peacefully through a legislative process, but no improvement was made. With no reformation or legislative action taking place, farmers turned to other forms of action. This is when attacks began appearing towards the New England Court System (Szatmary 42). These armed attacks on courts led to tyranny, and eventually through losses to militia, the rebellion of Shaysites declined. Although the rebellion ended, the thought of the possibility of another rebellion remained and through this fear reform took place. Not until a rebellion

Thomas Jefferson always supported the modern day protests. According to the letter that he wrote about the Shays’ Rebellion he said that he in fact did support the protest. When the people were rewriting the Constitution Thomas Jefferson feared that the people that were at the Constitutional Convention were over reacting to the Shays’ Rebellion. He also thought that they would take it too far and start creating a couple of stupid rules that shouldn’t be created. The Shays’ Rebellion was all started all because of the many farmers that were going in debt since they didn’t have enough money to pay the taxes that they were informed to pay. So because of all of this situation the farmers and their leader Daniel Shays started protesting about how

The more I learn about Thomas Jefferson, the more I want to keep researching him. From his architectural endeavors to his statements about rebellion, Thomas Jefferson is just fascinating. His statement about rebellion being good now and then seems fitting for Jefferson. Since he is in France at the time (the official beginning of the French Revolution being just a year or two away), he is probably encouraging revolution there. So, supporting a little rebellion at home seems natural. I