Thomas Jefferson promoted a rather surprising idea: the need for a healthy society to make generous room for ongoing dissatisfaction. A nation’s Founding Father might be expected to champion docile compliance among its citizenry, but Jefferson wasn’t that kind of dad.

In a 1787 letter to John Adam’s son-in-law, Jefferson observed that people too often confused revolution with anarchy. The British, to be precise, had persisted in calling the revolution in the Colonies by this more scandalous name, deceiving much of Europe and even many New World citizens still loyal to the throne of England. “Wonderful is the effect of impudent and persevering lying,” Jefferson observed.