Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson delivered his inaugural address as our third president. Here is part of what he said: ‘Enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter. With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens: a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned …'” (03/04/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/03/04/march-4-1801-n2672265