A Republic, if you can keep it

[Vexari]

The error seems not sufficiently eradicated

That the operations of the mind

As well as the acts of the body

Are subject to the coercion of the laws


But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights

Only as we have submitted to them

The rights of conscience we never submitted

We could not submit

We are answerable for them to our God


The legitimate powers of government

Extend to such acts

Only as are injurious to others


Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet

Our bodies would be in such keeping

As our souls are now

Thus in France

The emetic was once forbidden as a medicine

And the potato

As an article of food..


~ Thomas Jefferson ~ (1743-1826)

US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President

Source.. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, Query XVII (1781-1785)