Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Thomas Jefferson - On Marie Antoinette

ON MARIE ANTOINETTE

The King [of France]... had a Queen of absolute sway over his weak mind and timid virtue, and of a character the reverse of his in all points .. proud, disdainful of restraint, indignant of all obstacles to her will, eager in the pursuit of pleasure, and firm enough to hold to her desires or perish in the wreck. Her inordinate gambling and dissipations .. had been a sensible item in the exhaustion of the treasury which called into action the reforming hand of the nation; and her opposition to it, her inflexible perverseness and dauntless spirit, led herself to the guillotine, drew the King on with her, and plunged the world into crimes and calamities which will forever stain the pages of modern history. I have ever believed that had there been no Queen there would have been no revolution...

Back to the Thomas Jefferson Index Page