The demented right are currently very strong on mangling Jefferson’s line about the “tree of liberty being watered with blood.” We used to be pretty strong on that too, back in 1968, so I though I’d take a look at what Jefferson actually said. (Yes, it’s a fucking history lesson.) The phrase occurs in a letter to William Stephens Smith, from Paris, November 13, 1787…
“What country can preserve its liberties, if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure."
He also wrote to Abigail Adams earlier in the same year…
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now & then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere"
The problem with this quote from Jefferson is that every fool, myself included, believes his remarks refer to his or her personal rebellion. Further reading into Jefferson is required, and taking account of the literacy levels of the Sarah Palin New Right, that isn’t about to happen, much less any understanding of the intricacies of Jefferson like – for instance – his passionate defense of liberty only applying to white males. Black folks were for only hard work and hot night-romping.
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