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| Jefferson (1743-1826) |
“The
way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one,
but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly
the functions he is competent to.
Let
the national government be entrusted with the defense of the nation,
and its foreign and federal relations; the State governments with the
civil rights, law, police, and administration of what concerns the
State generally; the counties with the local concerns of the
counties, and each ward direct the interests within itself.
It
is by dividing and subdividing these republics from the great
national one down through all its subordinations, until it ends in
the administration of every man’s farm by himself; by placing under
every one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for
the best.
What
has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which
has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating
all cares and powers into one body.”
– Thomas
Jefferson
(Jefferson
to Joseph C. Cabell - 2 Feb. 1816)
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