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Quotation: "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
Variations:
Sources consulted: Searching on the phrase "bad government" and "too much government"
Earliest known appearance in print: 1913[1]
Earliest known appearance in print, attributed to Jefferson: 1950[2]
Other attributions: John Sharp Williams
Comments: This exact quotation has not been found in any of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It bears some slight resemblance to a statement he made in a letter to John Norvell of June 11, 1807: "History, in general, only informs us what bad government is."[3] However, the quotation as it appears above can definitely be attributed to John Sharp Williams in a speech about Jefferson, which has most likely been mistaken at some point for a direct quotation of Jefferson.[4]
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