Jefferson on Patience
Summary There's a quote gaining renewed popularity in the wake of the President's Re-election. Unlike the quote falsely attributed to Caesar, this quote is real. The Jefferson quote was recently cited by Bernstein in his biography of Thomas Jefferson.
However, there is an important portion in the original quote missing from discussion. The modified quote is being used as not just a reminder to wish for better days after the Bush victory, but to also thwart the emergence of a secession movement in the United States.
Today's murmurings of secession are related to the unpopular Bush Presidency; unlike today, Jefferson in 1798 spoke of the unpopular Sedition Acts, while the 1860s secession movement sprung from states rights in re property. Yet, it is noteworthy that the talks of secession in both 1860 and 2004 related to elections.
In all three eras, the fundamental issue is simply, "what is to be done" when a significant portion contend the direction and momentum of the nation is at odds with core principles. Some like Brazile and Streisand call for patience, as did Jefferson. Others are not willing to wait.
It remains to be seen the seriousness to which people are discussing seceeding from the Union in the wake of a Bush victory; and what course the President chooses to take to realign his actions with the Constitution, or actively destroy any momentum along the same path as 1860.
Discussion
The quote's timing is noteworthy. Jefferson made the remarks in re the Alien and Sedition Acts later became one argument behind the South's position during the US Civil War. Does this imply that, although some have called for secession, that there are other forces at work asking for restraint in 2004?
Some in the wake of the Bush victory have speculated that the next step might be secession.
Today, as in Jefferson's time, there are people calling for calm. Streisand appears to have used the Brazile-version cited in the Washington Post; Brazile appears to have cited Bernstein's biography of Thomas Jefferson.
Recent uses Appears as though the quote is most recently cited in the Bernstein biography of Thomas Jefferson. Ref
The quote then gained more popularity when cited just after the President won the election. Note the ellipses in the recent quotes.
Washington Post mentioned Democratic strategist Donna Brazile on November 2004. "A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to it's true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt......If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake." |
Now things are buzzing. The quote gained wider attention when Barbra Streisand posted the issue on her website and Matt Drudge picked it up:
"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt......If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake." |
Note the above Streisand and Brazile quotes are the same. For verification, we independently copy and paste the quotes from the different sources: WashingtonPost, and the Barbra Streisand sites.
Notice the quotes when freely flowed into HTML boxes match in wrap-around, spacing, and word-content, suggesting that the Streisand quote came from the WashingtonPost coverage of Brazile.
Purpose This discussion explores how a blog-comment can be tracked and distinguished from other similar entries on the basis of subtle changes in the content, ommission, and typography. Discussion We arbitrarily create a term called "Anchoring the quote in time". This means essentially identifying unique characteristics about the quote in terms of text-spacing, lettering, and deletions that help identify when the quote was sourced. This is important because we can identify when the quote was modified, who made modifications to the post, and analyze the different variations of the quote as they spread through the internet. Forward and backward analysis The analysis helps identify the flow of information forward in time; and in cases where the quote-origin is unknown or in dispute we can arrange the content-diffusion along axis and backtrack to the possible origins to pinpoint when the quote was created, modified, and who the possible author was. We can distinguish between one version of the quote from another simply by noticing the number of ellipses in the copied quotes, and analyze whether the complete quote is used and compare it to various deleted words. By noticing these little details, we can track the quotes use, copying, and reliance in later discussions. This approach may be of interest to academics in analyzing blog content diffusion. Ref Example: Ellipses One interesting feature of the quote are the ellipses. We can search using the key phrases around the ellipses. Search2 This helps bound the time of the quote, and we can distinguish between those web pages and news articles that quoted the Thomas Quote before the 2004 election, and those after the Streisand-WashingtonPost. In other words, the complete quote without the ellipses is presumed to be either of an independent source prior to the WashingtonPost-Streisand version; or something written subsequent to detailed analysis of the complete quote. Sample distinguishing tag Let us consider a modification of the ellipses quote. Note this version includes brackets, which again helps distinguish this information-flow from the Washington-Post. Essentially, the quotes are the same, but the added brackets help tag and distinguish this version of the quote from other information lines. However, notice that Google does not distinguish between ellipses and brackets suggesting this approach is problematic. Perhaps with careful persuasion Google might be encouraged to allow subtle character changes to be unique and distinguishable searches within the search engine. |
Jefferson quote content analysis Let's consider something else. Here's the full quote, the bold portion indicates the text left out of both the Streisand and Brazile version.
A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to it's true principles. It is true that in the mean time we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war & long oppressions of enormous public debt. But who can say what would be the evils of a scission, and when & where they would end? Better keep together as we are, hawl off from Europe as soon as we can, & from all attachments to any portions of it. And if we feel their power just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, & then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are the stake. Better luck, therefore, to us all; and health, happiness, & friendly salutations to yourself. |
The missing portions of the quote illustrate the real issue:
But who can say what would be the evils of a scission, and when & where they would end? Better keep together as we are, hawl off from Europe as soon as we can, & from all attachments to any portions of it. And if we feel their power just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist. |
Jefferson's note of caution
Jefferson was so concerned with the comments he made that he ended his remarks in 1798 with:
It is hardly necessary to caution you to let nothing of mine get before the public. A single sentence, got hold of by the Porcupines, will suffice to abuse & persecute me in their papers for months.Other discussion on the Jefferson Letter:
In his Virginia Resolutions of 1798, written in protest of the Alien and Sedition Acts, he had described any projection of federal authority over the domestic policy of the states as a violation of 'the spirit of '76' and therefore a justification for secession from the Union. Ref
In 1814 at the Hartford Convention, many of the Northeastern states who opposed the War of 1812 as well as the Jeffersonian tendencies of the federal government seriously threatened secession from the Union. Later, there were also secessionist cries from Northern states over the enforcement the whiskey act, the Mexican War, and the Fugitive Slave Act. Are today's passions from the Left any less inflamed? Ref
To understand why there are calls for "Patience" in 2004: News |
Going forward: The Prospects of patience and the alternatives
Let us suppose that for the sake of history, 2004 does not repeat the errors of either 1798 or 1860 in that the dispute is resolved peacefully. One approach is not to simply call for patience, but to take ourselves back to 1798 and ask, "If we were to know in the future, in 1860, that this would come completely undone, what might we fix today in 1798..."
The next step would be to take that approach and lessons we would glean from a "forward look to 1860" and apply those lessons today in 2004.
Another way of saying this is: Look to history as if looking forward to our own destiny and ask ourselves, "What might we peacefully resolve today so that it does not require a greater crisis to remedy the entrenched wrongs."
We will have greater credibility before the globe if we can resolve the contentious issues peacefully rather than look back and say, "If only..." A constructive struggle will be something others can emulate not deride as an excuse to shun the United States.
More If you enjoyed reading about "what was missing" from a quote, and would like to read another, you're in for a treat. For an analysis of President Bush's use of another incomplete quote and what it might say about the future: here for more.
posted by Constant @ 5:43 PM
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