itself.) His repeated counsel to Astor was that he cherish the affections of the natives, and make it their interest to uphold his establishment.
Jefferson was thus the first great American expansionist. But he was not of the type of Alexander the Great. His trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced were "Bacon, Newton, and Locke." His supreme passion was for the dispelling of ignorance and the promotion of the useful sciences, because it was his faith that liberty and progress were wholly dependent upon the universal education of the masses and the highest education of the most competent. He states his point of view writing from Europe during the dark days of the Confederation, following Shay's Rebellion and while the adoption of the constitution was pending. In commenting on the question whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government or information to the people he says: " And say, finally, whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government, or information to the people. This last is the most certain, and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. After all, it is my principle that the will of the majority should prevail. If they approve the proposed constitution in all its parts, I shall concur in it cheerfully, in hopes they will amend it, whenever they find it works wrong. This reliance can not deceive us, as long as we remain virtuous; and I think we
