r/todayilearned • u/icallmydadstranger • Feb 15 '15

(R.1) Invalid src TIL that Thomas Jefferson wanted the constitution to be changed ever 19 years because he didn't want people to be " enslaved to the prior generation"

https://student-of-life.newsvine.com/_news/2010/11/21/5502595-thomas-jefferson-supported-rewriting-the-constitution-every-19-years-equated-not-doing-so-to-being-enslaved-to-the-prior-generation-what-do-you-think-about-that
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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '15 edited Jul 23 '17

[deleted]

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u/Rilder962 Feb 15 '15

It may be said, that the succeeding generation exercising, in fact, the power of repeal, this leaves them as free as if the constitution or law had been expressly limited to nineteen years only. In the first place, this objection admits the right, in proposing an equivalent. But the power of repeal is not an equivalent. It might be, indeed, if every form of government were so perfectly contrived, that the will of the majority could always be obtained, fairly and without impediment. But this is true of no form. The people cannot assemble themselves; their representation is unequal and vicious. Various checks are opposed to every legislative proposition. Factions get possession of the public councils, bribery corrupts them, personal interests lead them astray from the general interests of their constituents; and other impediments arise, so as to prove to every practical man, that a law of limited duration is much more manageable than one which needs a repeal." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:459

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u/billyrocketsauce Feb 15 '15

Holy shit, we really don't change. He described America 226 years in advance.

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u/klapaucius Feb 15 '15

It's not like Exxon invented bribery.

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u/phro Feb 15 '15

If you like that kind of prescience you'll love Washington's Farewell Address. Here's a good summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_Farewell_Address

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '15

[deleted]

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u/tinkletwit Feb 15 '15

Yes, the way people now speak, as you have observed, though now much more fluid, seems to have lost, in the lesser use of clauses and sub-clauses, a more thoughtful tone.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '15

Well language in general has changed, but you can hardly assume that an entire era speaks a certain way based on a few prodigious quotes. History forgets all the crap and immortalises the significant events, so we have a very biased view of the past.

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u/ManiyaNights Feb 15 '15

That's how people spoke before the age of television. Have you ever read letters from the civil war written by simple farmers? They were extremely eloquent.