Sure here are some quoted from Jefferson to prove it:
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.
"
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
― James Madison
" 16)the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to grain ground; that the greater the government the stronger the exploiter and the weaker the producer; that , therefore, the hope of liberty depends upon local self-16)governance and the vigilance of the producer class."
-17)A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor (read-taxes) and bread it has earned -- 18)this is the sum of good government.
-19)Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
-20)History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.
-21)I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
-22)I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
-23)My reading of history convinces me that bad government results from too much government.
-24)Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
-25)Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
-26)The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
-27)Most bad government has grown out of too much government.
-28)Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread.
-29)Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms [of government] those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
"The rights of the people to the exercise and fruits of their own industry can never be protected against the selfishness of rulers
not subject to their control at short periods." --Thomas 36:Jefferson
to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1816.
"To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father's has acquired too much, in order to spare to
others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of
association--the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." --38)Thomas Jefferson: Note
in Tracy's "Political Economy," 1816.
"The merchants will manage [commerce] the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves." --39)Thomas Jefferson to Gideon Granger, 1800.
"Agriculture, manufactures, commerce and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embarrassments, however, may sometimes be seasonably interposed." --52)Thomas Jefferson: 1st Annual Message, 1801. ME 3:337
