Note 5 — Chapter I · The Period of Beginnings
Reading edition
In 1784, Jefferson took occasion to declare, “In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories; and to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree.” Jefferson, Thomas, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Paul Leicester Ford, ed. (New York, 1894), Vol. III, p. 254.