Thomas Jefferson on Small Farms & Small Farmers

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States and one of the Founding Fathers, held strong beliefs about the importance of small farms and small farmers. He believed that an agrarian society made up of independent small farmers was essential to the success of a democratic nation.

Here are a couple of quotes attributed to Thomas Jefferson that highlight his views on small farms and small farmers:

1. "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds."

2. "Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue."

These quotes reflect Jefferson's belief in the virtues of small-scale agriculture and the role of small farmers in promoting self-sufficiency, independence, and civic virtue withi…