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About this quote

What does it mean?
Jefferson pledges life, fortune, and honor to support the declaration with faith in divine protection.
In plain terms
He promises to risk everything for the cause, trusting in God.
What can you take from it?
Commitment to a cause may require risking life and property.

Where it applies

  • revolutionary movements
  • public service

Putting it to work

  • drafting declarations
  • expressing commitment

Questions to consider

  • What is worth sacrificing your life for?
  • How does faith influence political action?

Another view

The reliance on divine providence is a matter of personal belief.

More from Thomas Jefferson

  1. We must therefore...hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

    Permalink to quote #141
  2. He who made us would have been a pitiful bungler, if he had made the rules of our moral conduct a matter of science. For one man of science, there are thousand…

    Permalink to quote #143
  3. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable Rights; that amon…

    Permalink to quote #140

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