“Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people”

“Freedom is lost gradually by an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people” was posted on Twitter by JST DAVID on May 3, 2011. “‘Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.’ Thomas Jefferson” was posted on Twitter by urawesome21 on January 30, 2012.
   
There is no evidence that Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) said this, in any form. The quotation was rated as “false” by Check Your Fact on October 3, 2019, and by PolitiFact on October 4, 2019.
   
       
Wikipedia: Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.
 
Twitter
JST DAVID
@realjstdavid
Freedom is lost gradually by an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.
10:22 PM · May 3, 2011·Twitter SMS
   
Twitter
urawesome21
@marinokaren21
“Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.” Thomas Jefferson
11:04 AM · Jan 30, 2012·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
We Are Liberty
@WeAreLiberty
“Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.” -T.Jefferson via @marinokaren21 | #RonPaul
11:08 AM · Jan 30, 2012·Hootsuite
   
Twitter
QUEENShadai
@ImNotThaatGirl
“Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.” -T.Jefferson | #RonPaul2012
11:22 AM · Jan 30, 2012·Plume for Android
   
Twitter
Deplorable Steven
@pfsdriver
RT @RonPaulCA2012: “Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.” - Thomas Jefferson
7:24 PM · Feb 5, 2012·TweetDeck
 
10 October 2012, Daily Record (Wooster, OH), “Letters to the editor.” pg. A4:
What about the national debt, which is now over $16 trillion and almost $6 trillion of that was added by our president, which is more than any of the other presidents put together. What about your children and your grandchildren for generations to come? Do you care if their freedoms are gone and they are burdened with this debt for the rest of their lives?
 
“Freedom is lost gradually by an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.”
(...)
Sue Ann Miller
Lakeville
   
Twitter
18 October 2012, Muscatine (IA) Journal, “Letters to the Editor: Voter apathy is depressing,” pg. 4A, col. 6:
“Freedom is lost gradually by an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people. ...” Thomas Jefferson
L. L. Ayers
Muscatine, Iowa
   
11 December 2012. Phil’s Stock World, “One Small Voice” (blog post):
“Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.” -Thomas Jefferson
     
Google Groups: socal-usa-patriots-group
Fwd: The Watchman
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Jun 3, 2013, 9:00:55 AM
to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(...)
The Watchman
Neal Ross
6/2/2013
(...)
You can’t possibly imagine the sadness, and anger, I feel when I watch the country that I love go down in flames because the people living in it refuse to see what is happening right before their very eyes. Thomas Jefferson was right when he said, “Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people…”
   
Google Books
Guardian of the Republic:
An American Ronin’s Journey to Faith, Family, and Freedom
By Allen West and Michele Hickford
New York, NY: Crown Forum
2014
Pg. 79:
Thomas Jefferson looked into the future when he said, “Freedom is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.”
 
Check Your Fact
FACT CHECK: DID THOMAS JEFFERSON SAY, ‘FREEDOM IS LOST GRADUALLY FROM AN UNINTERESTED, UNINFORMED AND UNRESPONSIVE PEOPLE’?
1:33 PM 10/03/2019 Elias Atienza | Fact Check Reporter
(...)
Verdict: False
There is no evidence that Thomas Jefferson ever said or wrote this quote.
(...)
“We have never been able to find any source that confirms that these are words written or spoken by Thomas Jefferson,” confirmed Lisa Francavilla of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in an email to the Caller. “It is therefore what we call ‘spurious’ or ‘misattributed.’”
 
In 2013, conservative writer Cal Thomas included the misattributed quote in a column for the Washington Examiner.
 
PolitiFact
Jefferson didn’t say ‘freedom is lost gradually from uninterested, uninformed, uninvolved people’
By Samantha Putterman
October 4, 2019
(...)
Lisa Francavilla, managing editor for the Thomas Jefferson Papers at the International Center for Jefferson Studies, said the quote is being parroted all over the internet.
 
“We have never been able to find any source that confirms that these are words written or spoken by Thomas Jefferson,” Francavilla wrote in an email. “It is therefore what we call ‘spurious’ or ‘misattributed.’ We have been unable to confirm a date of origin for it.”