Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823:

We believed that men, enjoying in ease and security the full fruits of their own industry, enlisted by all their interests on the side of law and order, habituated to think for themselves and to follow their reason as their guide, would be more easily and safely governed than with minds nourished in error and vitiated and debased… by ignorance, indigence and oppression.
— The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, 15:441.

Happy Jefferson’s Birthday.