I am a lifelong U.S. history nut so of course Thomas Jefferson is one of my heroes. I have read quite extensively about him over the years and have accumulated quite a library of quotes. I will admit that when it comes to slavery he has a dark side but don’t we all to one degree or another. I treat my heroes as human and not gods in that regard. They have wisdom to offer the ages but they are not pure in every respect. One of the reasons that Jefferson is my hero is because he was a free-thinker in his days. He said things that others where not courageous enough to say. I think I am kind of like him in that regard. Maybe recklessly so.
Although I have already done so to a limited degree I will be presenting even more quotes from Jefferson on this blog. We need lessons from as many wise men as we can during these trying times. One of the purposes of these posts will be to dispel some of the myths that has grown around the man. One of those myths is that Jefferson wanted our young country to be a Christian nation. If you know me at all you know I disagree adamantly with that belief. Jefferson was spiritual but not a Christian, as least as we know it today. He definitely would not be welcomed in many of the 39,000 different versions of Christianity around today. When he wrote about separation of church and state he did more so to protect our young nation from the influences of religious organizations than the other way around. I will be producing many quotes around this fact and many other generally unknown aspects of the man in the coming months.
In that regard I have set up a special category for Jefferson. It is located in the Quotes header at the top of this blog. I hope you enjoy or are at least informed by my decision to add Jefferson to my repertoire here.
RJ's Corner 
Ha, yeah, I am reading Henry Adams’ “History of the United States During the Administration of Thomas Jefferson” right now. You are too right – a lot of the Northern elite really hated him! Among other things, for being a proponent of democracy. It is eye-opening to learn how many influential people really loathed the idea of democracy back then, and were not afraid to say it. Many were convinced that the fledgling United States wouldn’t survive a Jefferson administration. They said things along the lines of, “God will abandon us if we put this godless man in the White House.” Heh, sounds familiar.
There is truly nothing new under the sun. Politics was just as down and dirty back then as it is today. And yet here we still are.
I admit to you though – I have been to the National Archives and I did buy myself a tote bag from the gift shop (“Made in China”) with the Jefferson quote “I cannot live without books.” It’s like he knows me.
Though from what I understand, Mr. Jefferson got himself into some seriously heinous debt over his love of books (and the finer things in life), which I’m pretty sure I’ll never do, much as I love books (and the finer things in life)!
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Tessie, thanks for the additional insight into Jefferson. His love/hate relationship with John Adams was the tip of the iceberg for the feelings of the time. It gives me hope that someday the two sides of congress will get together like he and Adams did after they left public life. Yeah, we survived those times (although Hamilton didn’t) we prayerfully will do so again. Come back often to keep me in line with the facts when I talk about Jefferson in the coming months.
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