We can probably all agree: when it comes to throwing down savage quotes about freedom, Jefferson’s in a league of his own. The man literally drafted the Declaration of Independence. That alone earns him a spot in the Final Four of Founding Father badassery.

This shirt drops one of his best lines:
"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery."
Technically, T.J. was writing to his buddy Madison in 1787 and pulled the Latin card:
Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.

Translation? Liberty > Safety, even if it gets a little rowdy.

The fact that he busted out the Latin probably means this was regular shop talk among the founders. You can almost hear it echoing in the tavern:
"Yo T.J., dangerous freedoms, my guy. Dangerous freedoms."

Full text:
"Societies exist under three forms sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one. 3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it's evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical." 

• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester)
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz./yd.² (142 g/m²)
• Pre-shrunk fabric
• Side-seamed construction
• Shoulder-to-shoulder taping

Size guide