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February 04, 2007
The Tree of Liberty
I'm sure you've all heard the Thomas Jefferson quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots." The quote, a fragment from a letter Jefferson wrote to New York senator William S. Smith, seems to speak directly to the sacrifices of American military men and women during World War II.
But, of course, Jefferson wasn't around for World War II. So what was Jefferson writing about? The Revolutionary War, perhaps, with Valley Forge and George Washington?
Here is a longer version of the quote, from Wikipedia:
"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. ... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
We was writing in a period of pre-Constitution America about the Shays' Rebellion. An armed tax revolt against the government of Massachusetts and the Confederation, an insurgency against our young nation.
And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them.
The letter shows an interesting attitude towards insurgents, and a very interesting recommendation of tactics to use against an insurgency. Can you picture anyone, Democrat or Republican who would voice such an opinion today?
But Jefferson, as a revolutionary himself, understood that one of the worst fates that could overcome America would be public apathy. A people grown used to comfortable living, or who have lost faith in a better future, might find it easy to trade liberty for a promise that they would be protected.
In these days of high-definition cable TV, Internet can you imagine America fighting another War of Independence?