Thomas Jefferson Wanted To Rewrite the Constitution

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Thomas Jefferson believed that a country’s constitution should be rewritten every 19 years. Instead, the U.S. Constitution, which Jefferson did not help to write (he was in Paris serving as U.S. minister to France when the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia), has prevailed since 1789.

“Jefferson thought the dead should not rule the living, thus constitutions should expire frequently, but the fact is that the U.S. Constitution quickly became enshrined by the public and is the oldest constitution in the world,” said Zachary Elkins, a professor of political science at Illinois.

http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/07/0212constitution.html

He also believed there would be a revolution quite often, maybe because the idiots needed to have their a$$ handed to them frequently to uphold what is deemed important.

Which is why ours is so good, and has provided freedom unequaled in the world since it was written. Unlike our current occupant, and this writer, I believer our framers were brilliant.

I am glad TJ didn't get his way. When you have just created a new country, it does make sense to have the ability to change things without much fuss if you get something wrong. And a number of amendments were created in the first 100 years to address mistakes, but this has slowed down as the nation has matured.

Besides I could easily have seen the country repealing the 2nd Amendment after the assasinations of the 1960's. Instead changes were made in Congress to tighten gun ownership.

The constitutions dataset project is sponsored by the Illinois Center for the Study of Democratic Governance. The project has received a two-year $197,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Other than burning up $197,000 with this "Academia excersize"- can anyone show me where Jefferson said he wanted to re-write the constitution every 19 years? I know where he said that "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion" but I have never read about re-writing the constitution.

Does anyone have any evidence he advocated a re-write other than this group of peogressives at the University of Illinois? Because I know the progressives want to re-write the constitution for their own political agenda- but I don't think Jefferson was in on the plot!

Thomas Jefferson thought it should be rewritten every 19 years, and Obama rewrites it every day.

“The dead should not rule the living”
― Thomas Jefferson

Conservation Voice wrote: “The dead should not rule the living”
― Thomas Jefferson

I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.
John F. Kennedy


The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility and flow of risk capital... the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy.
John F. Kennedy

"America will fall without a shot being fired, it will fall from within." Nikita Khrushchev and hero of Barrack Obama.

I had no idea you were an admirer of Khrushchev.