"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."
— Thomas Jefferson
I Hold It That A Little
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
About this quote
Jefferson wrote this in a letter to James Madison on January 30, 1787, shortly before the Shays' Rebellion had been fully suppressed. Writing from Paris, where he was observing the mounting tensions that would soon produce the French Revolution, Jefferson argued that popular uprisings were a sign of political vitality rather than disorder — evidence that citizens remained vigilant against tyranny. The letter presents a more expansive argument for the same philosophy expressed in his later "tree of liberty" letter to William Stephens Smith.
Source
Letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787
