It was Thomas Jefferson, in France as ambassador at the time of Shays' Rebellion, who spoke of such uprisings as healthy for society. In a letter to a friend he wrote: "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing…. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government…. God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion…. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
( Howard Zinn )
[ A People's History of the ]
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