A tale of two quotations

Two "quotations" from Thomas Jefferson from both sides of the political spectrum.

Left side

"The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations."

Right Side 

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Both are not really quotations from Jefferson, while the right's version is obviously false.  Let's face it, Jefferson was a slave owner: talk about taking from people who work for a living without proper compensation!

The exact quotation used by the Left also has not been found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It may be a mistaken amalgamation of the author's comments in the above 1994 reference with a real Jefferson quotation. Jefferson wrote in 1825 to William Branch Giles of "vast accession of strength from their younger recruits, who having nothing in them of the feelings or principles of ’76 now look to a single and splendid government of an Aristocracy, founded on banking institutions and monied in corporations under the guise and cloak of their favored branches of manufactures commerce and navigation, riding and ruling over the plundered ploughman and beggared yeomanry."

This gets to what exactly were the real reasons for the American War for Independence?  If it was based upon free trade and an end to monopolies (i.e. The British East India Company), then the legacy would be one which is more left leaning than the current right wing appropriation of the "Tea Party" title would have us believe.


The problem with the period of the War of Independence is that it has become part of the US National myth.  It is romanticised and not seen in its proper historical context.  Instead of creating a utopia, it created anarchy and economic ruin which was only fixed by the adoption of the Constitution.

People need to reassess that period of Early American history in a new light.  I would hope that it would help extinguish the insurrectionist nonsense that has become common which none of the founders would tolerate.

How can you run a public policy based upon fiction?

In this case, a bogus quote from George Washington:

I guess not basing arguments on actual facts is part of Conservativism 101.

The words are part of a well-worn favorite conservative passage known as the "Liberty Teeth" quote. It reads in its entirety:

Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. The church, the plow, the prairie wagon, and citizen's firearms are indelibly related. From the moment the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable. Every corner of this land knows firearms, and more than 99 99/100 percent of them by their silence indicate they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference; they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. When firearms go, all goes; we need them every hour.

The quote is a hoax, and a well-known one. As Extra! pointed out ("The Right's Library of Fake Quotes," 4/10). It has been widely debunked, including in Playboy magazine, where it had been quoted (12/95) and subsequently become the subject of a lengthy correction  (12/95), after the editor of the Papers of George Washington project at the University of Virginia called it "either a complete fabrication or a case of misattribution.

The "liberty teeth" quote is so well known as a fraud that the pro-gun Second Amendment Foundation, in inveighing against the use of bogus quotes as "counterproductive," to the cause, cites it as the prime example, and "perhaps the most infamous bogus saying attributed to a Founding Father."

Knowing how to source check is a research basic!