Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Moses Robinson

I sincerely wish with you we could see our government so secured as to depend less on the character of the person in whose hands it is trusted. bad men will sometimes get in, & with such an immense patronage, may make great progress in corrupting the public mind & principles. this is a subject with which wisdom & patriotism should be occupied.

PrC (DLC). Published in PTJ, 33:423–4.