Democracy is nothing more than mob rule...(Spurious Quotation)

No Shutdown for Monticello!

Monticello is a nonprofit that operates independently with the support of visitors like you. We remain open during the government shutdown. For details, check our Hours of Operation. We look forward to seeing you.

Quotation: "Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%."

Variations:

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49."
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."

Sources consulted: Searching on the phrase "mob rule"

Earliest known appearance in print, attributed to Jefferson: 2002^[1]^[2]

Other attributions: None known.

Status: We currently have no evidence to confirm that Thomas Jefferson ever said or wrote, "Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%" or any of its listed variations. References to democracy as "mob rule" occur in print throughout the 20th century, but towards the later 20th century it appears to be more explicitly attributed to the Founding Fathers.

- Anna Berkes, 7/22/08

Further Sources

Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Jefferson Quotes and Family Letters. Quotations on Government.

References

^ A. C. Neal, letter to the editor, The Tampa Tribune, September 28, 2002, p. 20. Note that this is the earliest occurrence of the quote found so far, but it is clear the writer had seen the quote in an earlier source, which has yet to be identified.
^ To establish the earliest appearance of this phrase in print, the following sources were searched for the phrase, "democracy is nothing more than mob rule": Google Books, Google Scholar, Amazon.com, Internet Archive, America's Historical Newspapers, American Broadsides and Ephemera Series I, Early American Imprints Series I and II, Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, American Periodicals Series Online, JSTOR, NewspaperArchive.

Spurious Quotations

ADDRESS:
1050 Monticello Loop
Charlottesville, VA 22902
GENERAL INFORMATION:
(434) 984-9800