Thomas Jefferson's Sophisticated, Radical Vision of Liberty

Very recommendable short biography of the "Sage of Monticello"!

"He affirmed that all people are entitled to liberty, regardless what laws might say. If laws don’t protect liberty, he declared, then the laws are illegitimate, and people may rebel. ... Above all, Jefferson wrote letters, probably more than his illustrious contemporaries, and a larger number of these letters survive—some 18,000. ... Jefferson’s tact enabled him to maintain relationships with prickly-pear patriots like Thomas Paine and John Adams. In an affectionate letter, Adams commended him for “friendly warmth that is natural and habitual to you.” ... Congress cut Jefferson’s extended attack on George III for not outlawing the slave trade."

"Thirty-three-year-old Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on the second floor of a Philadelphia home belonging to bricklayer Jacob Graff, where he rented several rooms."
Perhaps view people realize that the American Experiment was drafted in the home of a common man!

Thomas Jefferson's Sophisticated, Radical Vision of Liberty - Foundation for Economic Education: Jefferson expressed a sophisticated, radical vision of liberty with awesome grace and eloquence. He affirmed that all people are entitled to liberty, regardless what laws might say. If laws don't protect liberty, he declared, then the laws are illegitimate, and people may rebel. While Jefferson didn't originate this idea, he put it in a way that set afire the imagination of people around the world, Moreover, he developed a doctrine for strictly limiting the power of government, the most dangerous threat to liberty everywhere.