Excerpt from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 10: Library Edition Containing His Autobiography, Notes on Virginia, Parliamentary Manual, Official Papers, Messages and Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, Now Collected and Published in Their Entirety for the First Time Writing to Van der Kemp in 1812, he says The only orthodox object of the institution of govern ment is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it. And where will the ignis fatuus, happi ness, be secured if not in the possession of wisdom? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.