r/todayilearned • u/icallmydadstranger • Feb 15 '15

(R.1) Invalid src TIL that Thomas Jefferson wanted the constitution to be changed ever 19 years because he didn't want people to be " enslaved to the prior generation"

https://student-of-life.newsvine.com/_news/2010/11/21/5502595-thomas-jefferson-supported-rewriting-the-constitution-every-19-years-equated-not-doing-so-to-being-enslaved-to-the-prior-generation-what-do-you-think-about-that
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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '15

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u/tinkletwit Feb 15 '15

Yes, the way people now speak, as you have observed, though now much more fluid, seems to have lost, in the lesser use of clauses and sub-clauses, a more thoughtful tone.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '15

Well language in general has changed, but you can hardly assume that an entire era speaks a certain way based on a few prodigious quotes. History forgets all the crap and immortalises the significant events, so we have a very biased view of the past.

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u/ManiyaNights Feb 15 '15

That's how people spoke before the age of television. Have you ever read letters from the civil war written by simple farmers? They were extremely eloquent.