# Thomas Jefferson — "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists" > [!quote] "We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. … Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. … And let us reflect that … all … will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression." > — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 ## Context Spoken after the election of 1800 — a vicious, deadlocked contest that took 36 House ballots to resolve and left the country fearing civil violence. Jefferson's inauguration was the first time power passed from one party to its bitter rival. Rather than punish the defeated Federalists, he used his first words to extend his hand and affirm the losers' rights. ## Why this matters The template for accepting election results without retribution — and for the loser's stake in the system. Jefferson, the winner, insists the *minority* "possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect," binding the majority's victory to its restraint. This is the reciprocal of peaceful transfer: the winner does not weaponize the win, and so the loser can safely yield. Jefferson called the whole episode "the revolution of 1800," a revolution accomplished "by the rational and peaceable instrument of reform, the suffrage of the people" — by ballots, not bullets. ## Verification - **Primary source:** [Avalon Project (Yale), Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jefinau1.asp); [Miller Center](https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/march-4-1801-first-inaugural-address). - **Status:** Verbatim from the authenticated text. Undisputed. ## Related quotes - [[George Washington - the experiment entrusted to the American people]] — the precedent that made the 1801 transfer thinkable. - [[George W. Bush - rare in history yet common in our country]] — a successor reconciling the nation after another bitterly contested election. - Featured in [[Presidents on the Peaceful Transfer of Power]].