Blog
Jefferson quoted in GOP response to State of the Union Address
Immediately following President Obama’s State of the Union address, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered the Republican response and quoted Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address in making the party’s case that “the federal government is simply trying to do too much.” More »
83 Percent of U.S. Adults Fail Test on Nation’s Founding
A recent national survey by the American Revolution Center turned up some pretty grim statistics about the state of knowledge about the Revolution. Among the findings, “Many more Americans remember that Michael Jackson sang ‘Beat It’ than know that the Bill of Rights is part of the Constitution.”
‘Self-evident’? Americans’ perceptions of liberty vary
Peter Onuf, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia (and a great friend of Monticello) wrote a thought-provoking piece in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star about the nature of Americans’ views of liberty from the earliest days of the republic:
We Americans live in a “land of liberty” where we may pursue [...]
Ben Franklin (and Thomas Jefferson) on global warming
Ben Gelber, meteorologist and author of The Pennsylvania Weather Book, wrote an op-ed piece in today’s New York Times in which he examines how Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other luminaries of 18th-century science debated issues of climate in their own day.
Read the piece at The New York Times.
Tip of the hat to the Onion
Monticello staff members were tickled to see Thomas Jefferson and James Madison referred to (and accurately, we might add) in a recent article in the satirical online “news source,” the Onion.
We hope you enjoy it as much as we did:)
Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be
Reporter asks what Jefferson would think about the balloon boy
Ted Anthony, who covers American culture for The Associated Press, wonders what Thomas Jefferson would think about the nation he helped found if he had returned earlier this week and followed, like most Americans did, the story of the Heenes.
Read the story at cbsnews.com.
Lou Ureneck on Jefferson and the sorry state of civic affairs
In an op-ed piece in today’s Boston Globe, Lou Ureneck takes to task the sorry state of modern-day civic affairs. He begins by describing Jefferson, in France in 1787, writing to fellow Virginian Edward Carrington while pondering “the problems of government that guaranteed freedom and ensured the people’s well-being” in the aftermath of Shays’ Rebellion.
“The [...]
More on the wall of separation
USATODAY columnist Oliver Thomas writes “And the wall . . . comes tumbling down.”
Visit Monticello in Virginia this fall and if you listen carefully, you might hear something out of the ordinary: Thomas Jefferson spinning in his grave.
In a series of 5-4 decisions, the Supreme Court appears determined to turn Jefferson’s wall of separation between [...]
The artist speaks: SFMOMA murals of Monticello and Mount Vernon
In February, we discussed recently unveiled murals of Monticello and Mount Vernon by artist Kerry Marshall in the atrium of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In this video, Marshall discusses the murals and his use of games and puzzles to point out the hidden aspects and challenges inherent in interpreting the founders today.
View [...]
A religious conscience
While Jefferson remained a practicing Episcopalian, his personal faith veered towards Unitarianism. He believed Jesus was an exemplary mortal, but not a divine being; Jesus’ moral teachings, not his death on the cross, comprised “salvation.”
I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he [Christ] wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; and believing he never claimed any other.
—Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 12, 1803 {More}
Deism on the rise in America?
In an article on Beliefnet, Steven Waldman, author of Founding Faith: How Our Founding Fathers Forged a Radical New Approach to Religious Liberty, reports on a new study that “reveals that a rapidly growing number of Americans hold the belief system that used to be described as Deism.”
The study, done by researchers at Trinity College, [...]
Conservative MP promotes Jeffersonian values in America
In a recent op-ed piece for the Daily Telegraph online, Conservative MP Daniel Hannan writes about his recent tour of speaking engagements at various conservative institutions in the U.S. Finding his message that Americans should “cleave to their Jeffersonian heritage” in the face of government expansion to be very well received, Hannan then quotes an [...]
Jefferson and the California budget
In a recent entry on the Huffington Post, Michael Meranze, History Professor at UCLA, quotes Jefferson and cites his epitaph in arguing against cuts in state spending on education at all levels in California.
Read it at the Huffington Post
More Jefferson quotes on education
“Is it the Fourth?”
Just in time for July 4, the annual run of Jefferson-related articles starts rolling in:
The New York Times - Time Wastes Too Fast
Wall Street Journal - Two Centuries On, a Cryptologist Cracks a Presidential Code
Wall Street Journal - Thomas Jefferson, Musician
New Yorker - July 4th Cartoon Caption Contest
Back Story with the History Guys Podcast - Independence Daze: A [...]
“Time wastes too fast” - Maira Kalman on Jefferson and Monticello
In her latest piece for the New York Times, Maira Kalman presents a moving and funny homage to Jefferson and Monticello following a recent visit to Charlottesville.
Reader reaction has been very positive. Over 250 comments posted were in under 24 hours, with many including references to past and planned tours of Jefferson’s mountaintop home.
See the [...]
Co-conspirators with kings and nobles
Jefferson frequently identified priests as co-conspirators with kings and nobles in the suppression of human freedom. In general, he believed that priests, especially Roman Catholic or Calvinist ones, corrupted republican government by forcing their congregants to adopt abstruse metaphysical propositions instead of thinking for themselves. Read more »
Wall of separation
To our detriment, Jefferson’s “wall of separation” concept has often been grossly misapplied to individual speech that references religion. Nowhere is this more evident than in the public schools where the concept tends to be used as justification for censoring, silencing and discriminating against religious individuals. Read more »
I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
—Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptists, January 1, 1802 {More}
What an effort, my dear Sir, of bigotry in Politics & Religion have we gone through! The barbarians really flattered themselves they should be able to bring back the times of Vandalism, when ignorance put everything into the hands of power & priestcraft.
—Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, March 21, 1801 {More}
