Thomas Jefferson: "A wise and frugal government..."

[Mr. Billion]

The quotation is this: "A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave the mother wise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

The only Google results I see are people quoting it beginning this year. Always prefaced by this: "Which part of this simple statement by Thomas Jefferson does the Obama administration finds so hard to understand:"

It wouldn't be surprising if Jefferson said something similar to the first quoted section. Maybe the person who quoted it first changed the wording so it doesn't appear in any search results.

ETA: I should have Googled a different phrase. It's from Jefferson's first inaugural address: http://ahp.gatech.edu/jefferson_inaug_1801.html They just reworded it slightly.

[Wolf333]

It's from his first inaugural address. But it's "them otherwise" not "the mother wise."

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres16.html

[BringTheNoise]

Man from over two-hundred years ago has different political views to those generally held now shocker!

[GenYus234]

I'm assuming those who are quoting Mr Jefferson aren't quoting this section from the next paragraph?

Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political

[E. Q. Taft]

Yeah, I wonder how many of those same people would be aghast if they knew about the Jefferson Bible...

[AnglRdr]

Fetishization of the Founders does not depend upon any sort of knowledge of said Founders.