Jefferson vs. Machiavellian
...overcomes the good. Machiavelli said that the reason for needing a government and higher authority is to control all the corrupted people. Machiavelli also states that it is impossible to have all equalities. What he means is that you cannot be cruel and merciful at the same time. You are either one or the other. Jefferson argues that the nature of men is a balance of opinions meaning their equalities are balanced. These arguments are the opposite of each other showing how different these two writers opinions are. Both Jefferson and Machiavelli both cover the function of government and how to run a government successfully. Jefferson states that you must be a generous, caring leader to run a successful country. He is saying this because he has struggled freeing the United States from English rule and has seen how the king has treated him and what is happening. Jefferson would argue that it is better to be loved by people than to be feared. On the other hand, Machiavelli believes you need to be a miser to be a successful ruler. He says you must learn to be bad in order to be good. Machiavelli believes that it is better to be feared than to be loved. He claims this because a ruler that is too generous or looked upon as too nice will spend all his money or be unsuccessful in war. A ruler that is feared by his reputation has an advantage over his people and other countries because they do not want any trouble with him. It is sometimes necessary to be feared. Once again, Jefferson and Machiavelli have almost opposite opinions on a subject. Thomas Jefferson is religious and believes in following God’s morals and the unalienable rights of man. This led him to rebel toward the king of England during his time. In addition, the king, being a miser, led the colonies to betray him. Machiavelli, believing that the ...