Source identified1
“Error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.”
Jefferson argues that political disagreement need not be suppressed when open reasoning remains available to challenge error, treating free contest rather than coercion as the safer response to mistaken opinion.
Source note: First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801; the wording is preserved by Monticello’s Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters from Jefferson’s manuscript and contemporary printing. The surrounding address condemns political intolerance and says differences of opinion are not always differences of principle.