The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
CONSTITUTION / UNITED STATES / BILL OF RIGHTS
No man in the United States, I suppose, approved of every tittle in
the Constitution: no one, I believe, approved more of it than I did,
and more of it was certainly disapproved by my accuser than by me, and
of its parts most vitally republican. Of this the few letters I wrote
on the subject (not half a dozen I believe) will be a proof; and for
my own satisfaction and justification, I must tax you with the reading
of them when I return to where they are. You will there see that my
objection to the Constitution was, that it wanted a bill of rights
securing freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom from
standing armies, trial by jury, and a constant habeas corpus act
Colonel Hamilton's was, that it wanted a king and house of lords. The
sense of America has approved my objection and added the bill of
rights1 not the king and lords.
... No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is
free, no one ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair
operation of attack and defence. Nature has given to man no other
means of sifting out the truth, either in religion, law, or politics.
to George Washington, 7 November 1792
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