evidence: Jefferson feared that it would only be a matter of time before the American system of government degenerated into a form of "elective despotism" (1785) [...] Because Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) thought it would be only a matter of time before the American system of government degenerated into an "elective despotism," he warned that citizens should act now in order to make sure that "the wolf [was kept] out of the fold":