Light and Liberty
Thomas Jefferson and the Power of Knowledge
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5704607 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel L Dreisbach (American University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 99 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1227-1228 |
| Publication date | 2013-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jahist/jas535 |
| OpenAlex | W2325296444 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
In his celebrated “Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge” (1778), Thomas Jefferson opined that “the most effectual means of preventing” tyranny and, by implication, for promoting a free and good government calculated to protect citizens “in the free exercise of their natural rights” is “to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large.” Even more succinctly, he remarked in a June 1, 1795, missive to Tench Coxe: “light and liberty go together.” Jefferson's relentless pursuit of “light and liberty” is the theme of this elegantly edited volume of original essays first presented at a 2008 conference at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point commemorating the opening of the academy's new library named for the third president. Jefferson was not alone among the Founders in his belief that political liberty and republican self-government required a virtuous and educated people. They, first, must be sufficiently educated to make well-informed decisions about how best to govern themselves. And, second, they must be sufficiently virtuous that their personal responsibility and discipline would facilitate the social order and stability necessary for self-government. (Jefferson, unlike many of his contemporaries, downplayed the role of traditional religion in nurturing civic virtue.) The extraordinary challenge the founding generation confronted was how best to promote and maintain a virtuous and educated citizenry
Civic virtue · Government (linguistics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Theme (computing · Virtue · Virtuous circle and vicious circle · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.15 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2019 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |