American history Quote by Jeffrey Rosen
![“[Louis] Brandeis, like [Tomas] Jefferson, is an equal opportunity critic of bigness. And he, like Jefferson, sees American history as this incredible clash between small producers, farmers, and small business people on the one hand, and wicked oligarchs and financiers and monopolists on the other.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a70/jeffrey-rosen-13180_american-history_louis-brandeis-like-tomas-jefferson-is-a_1341726.jpg)
“[Louis] Brandeis, like [Tomas] Jefferson, is an equal opportunity critic of bigness. And he, like Jefferson, sees American history as this incredible clash between small producers, farmers, and small business people on the one hand, and wicked oligarchs and financiers and monopolists on the other.”
About This Quote
Brandeis and Jefferson critique large power, viewing history as a struggle between small producers and big monopolists.
In simple terms: They see history as a clash of small vs. big powers.
Key Takeaway
Support small enterprises against concentration.
Themes
power
economics
history
antitrust
small business
Mood
critical
analytical
Type
political
historical
When to use this quote
- policy making
- business strategy
- consumer advocacy
- education reform
Key Concepts
political theory
law
economics
Questions to Reflect On
- How can small producers gain influence?
- What policies curb monopolies?
A Different Perspective
Large entities can adapt and dominate despite critique.
![“I think the answer has to do with the fact that [Louis D.] Brandeis was a consistent critic of bigness in business and in government.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/22e/jeffrey-rosen-13180_answers_i-think-the-answer-has-to-do-with-the-fa_3064957.jpg)
![“[Tomas] Jefferson is more out of fashion, both because of his views on race, where he's properly questioned, that part of his legacy, but also because the libertarian critique of bigness in business and government, the idea that size is a danger is something that's shared on the right when it…” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a93/jeffrey-rosen-13180_business_tomas-jefferson-is-more-out-of-fashion-b_1977431.jpg)
![“That strain of anti-monopoly crusading egalitarianism really runs throughout American history from [Tomas] Jefferson to Woodrow Wilson, that finds its apotheosis in [Louis] Brandeis, continues through the New Deal, but then it sort of peters out in the '60s because progressives in particular…” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/558/jeffrey-rosen-13180_american-history_that-strain-of-anti-monopoly-crusading-e_1868677.jpg)
![“Justice Jefferson has a blind spot on race. You know, more than a blind spot. A terrible blemish on his legacy, slavery, for which he's properly excoriated. So, I think [Louis] Brandeis has done this as well.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/438/jeffrey-rosen-13180_blind_justice-jefferson-has-a-blind-spot-on-ra_2417525.jpg)
![“I came to believe that actually [Louis] Brandeis tended to uphold laws that he liked and strike down those that he didn't, generally strike down centralizing federal agencies in the New Deal, and uphold state economic experimentation.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d86/jeffrey-rosen-13180_agency_i-came-to-believe-that-actually-louis-br_2995621.jpg)
![“Deeply reluctant to judge a Founder as wanting in moral force, modern commentators retreat to a range of adjectives such as ‘flawed,’ ‘human,’ ‘contradictory,’ ‘paradoxical,’ ‘compartmentalized,’ while preserving for [Thomas] Jefferson what [one] historian...calls ‘a fundamental core of naïve…” quote by Henry Wiencek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/800/henry-wiencek-90790_character_deeply-reluctant-to-judge-a-founder-as-w_1771646.jpg)
![“I'd say that [Louis] Brandeis practiced a kind of a "living originalism," to use the title of Jack Balkin's great book. He said you start with the paradigm case, which in the case of the Fourth Amendment was these general warrants or writs of assistance, but you define it at a level of abstraction…” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/aeb/jeffrey-rosen-13180_abstraction_i-d-say-that-louis-brandeis-practiced-a_73138.jpg)
![“Louis Brandeis really inspired me to write this book [Louis D. Brandeis: American Prophet]. It was a crazy deadline. The editor said I'd miss the hundredth anniversary unless I pumped the thing out in six months, because I'd been delaying and dilly dallying for so long. So he both inspired me to…” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0f3/jeffrey-rosen-13180_anniversary_louis-brandeis-really-inspired-me-to-wri_110490.jpg)
![“He's [Louis Brandais] so suspicious of bigness in government as well as business that he mistrusts even really top-down reforms at the state level. The most inspiring part of his legacy to me is his belief in the imperative and duty of self-education on behalf of citizens.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/da1/jeffrey-rosen-13180_behalf_he-s-louis-brandais-so-suspicious-of-big_113363.jpg)
![“They said, OK, nine [Louis] Brandeis's is too much, but one is OK. So, with friends like that, and so forth. But, yes, the idea that because he was Jewish he would rule a particular way was an ugly undercurrent of the hearings, which resonates with current claims that a judge can't be impartial…” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/950/jeffrey-rosen-13180_backgrounds_they-said-ok-nine-louis-brandeis-s-is-to_526142.jpg)
![“Basically [Louise] Brandeis was a Jeffersonian. And you say the timing is great, and it is in a lot of senses, except not for [Tomas] Jefferson, because this is a Hamiltonian moment, and he's the rock star of the minute with a great musical.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/494/jeffrey-rosen-13180_great-music_basically-louise-brandeis-was-a-jefferso_603281.jpg)
![“It's unfortunate that [Louis] Brandeis was not able to translate or abstract his devotion to cultural pluralism and racial equality as he put it for Jews to enslave people and their descendants and to African Americans.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f6c/jeffrey-rosen-13180_able_it-s-unfortunate-that-louis-brandeis-was_603580.jpg)
![“[Louis Brandeis] at the age of 57 decided to become the head of the American Zionist movement was more influential than anyone else in the 20th century in persuading Woodrow Wilson to recognize a Jewish homeland in Palestine.” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0fd/jeffrey-rosen-13180_20th-century_louis-brandeis-at-the-age-of-57-decided_726968.jpg)
![“For [Louis] Brandeis, you know, ethnicity and background are much less important than facts and reason. And he believes that far from wanting to efface our diversity of perspectives, we have to embrace it because that makes us more American, not less. In that sense, he's incredibly modern in an…” quote by Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8db/jeffrey-rosen-13180_age_for-louis-brandeis-you-know-ethnicity-an_755034.jpg)
![“Adam Clayton Powell's entire political career has to be looked at in the entire context of the American history and the history of, and the position of the Afro- American or negro in American history. [He] has done a remarkable job in fighting for rights of black people in this country. On the…” quote by Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/caa/malcolm-x-213_adam_adam-clayton-powell-s-entire-political-c_6932.jpg)
