Thomas jefferson on shays’ rebellion
source: thomas jefferson was in france during shays’ rebellion, but he wrote a letter to a friend about it. the british ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat, and model into every form, lies about our being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the english nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, and what is more wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. yet where does this anarchy exist? where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of massachusetts? and can history produce an instance of rebellion so honorably conducted? i say nothing of its motives. they were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. god forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a what country before, ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion ? 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 facts, pardon and pacify the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. it is its natural manure. our convention has been too much impressed by the insurrection of massachusetts; and on the spur of the moment, they are setting up a kite to keep the hen yard in order.
questions:
1. sourcing: who wrote this document? what else do you know about his views on a strong central government?
2. contextualization: according to jefferson, have the colonies been peaceful or chaotic? support your answer with evidence from the document.
3. close reading: what does jefferson mean when he says “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants? ”