--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The small landholders are the most…" description: "\"The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.\" — Thomas Jefferson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/thomas-jefferson-43_estates_the-small-landholders-are-the-most-preci_2429074.jpg" --- # The small landholders are the most precious part of a state. ![“The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/thomas-jefferson-43_estates_the-small-landholders-are-the-most-preci_2429074.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/thomas-jefferson-43_estates_the-small-landholders-are-the-most-preci_2429074.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc4/thomas-jefferson-43_estates_the-small-landholders-are-the-most-preci_2429074.jpg) > “The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.” [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Small landowners are the backbone of a stable society, providing economic and civic strength. **In simple terms:** Landowners support the state. Key Takeaway Support small farmers. Themes economics politics citizenship Mood reflective optimistic Type political historical When to use this quote - rural development - policy making - community building Key Concepts agrarianism social stability Questions to Reflect On - How can modern policy protect small farmers? - What role do small landowners play in democracy? A Different Perspective Large industrial interests can dominate, marginalizing smallholders. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Estates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/estates/) [Farmers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/farmers/) [Farming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/farming/) [Farming and farmers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/farming-and-farmers/) [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) [Homesteading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homesteading/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Investing in real estate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investing-in-real-estate/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Real estate investing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-estate-investing/) [Real property](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-property/) ## Related quotes > [It is not too soon to provide by every possible means that as few as possible shall be without a little portion of land.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/it-is-not-too-soon-to-provide-by-every-possible-means-that-as-few-as/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Landholders ought to have a share in the government to support these invaluable interests and check the other many. They ought to be so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/landholders-ought-to-have-a-share-in-the-government-to-support-these/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/whenever-there-are-in-any-country-uncultivated-lands-and-unemployed/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/there-seem-to-be-but-three-ways-for-a-nation-to-acquire-wealth-the/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [There seems to be three ways for a nation to acquire wealth: the first is by war...this is robbery; the second by commerce, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/there-seems-to-be-three-ways-for-a-nation-to-acquire-wealth-the-first/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [Farmers are respectable and interesting to me in proportion as they are poor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/farmers-are-respectable-and-interesting-to-me-in-proportion-as-they/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants at tree, is more than all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-greenleaf-whittier/who-sows-a-field-or-trains-a-flower-or-plants-at-tree-is-more-than-all/) [John Greenleaf Whittier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-greenleaf-whittier/) > [There is, of course, a gold mine or a buried treasure on every mortgaged homestead. 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Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) > [He felt with the force of a revelation that to throw up the clods of earth manfully is as beneficent as to revolutionize the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-glasgow/he-felt-with-the-force-of-a-revelation-that-to-throw-up-the-clods-of/) [Ellen Glasgow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-glasgow/) ## More by Thomas Jefferson > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-for-freedom-of-religion-and-against-all-maneuvers-to-bring-about/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-to-the-accidental-opinion-of-a/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/perceiving-the-order-of-nature-to-be-that-individual-happiness-shall/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one-step-what-will-be-the-next/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-well-informed-citizenry-is-the-best-defense-against-tyranny/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. 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But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/when-the-people-are-afraid-of-the-government-that-s-tyranny-but-when/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident-that-all-men-are-created/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Explore all 2,098 Thomas Jefferson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## More Estates quotes > [I've been in real estate for a long time and I always try to stay on the edge. 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