I just finished a book by Jon Meacham, “Thomas Jefferson The Art of Power.”  It was a fascinating read, not for the historical facts, but to understand the essence of the man, Jefferson.  A man with faults like all of us, certainly, but a great man that linked the emergence of reason in the age of enlightenment with the need to deliver a new world a new form of government of the people and by the people.

He believed that with reason and with education (he founded the University of Virginia) and with thoughtful pursuit of science and learning (sponsored Lewis and Clark expedition and was consummately engaged in understanding science and discovery) that people would, could, and should throw off the yoke of dictatorial rule and replace it with rule of reason as represented by the democratic process.  As author of the Declaration of Independence he laid out with clarity and brevity: That…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

So too, Jefferson’s view of the Creator, and consequently religion and various religions, for which he studied was based on an application of reason, and a realization that religion was another source of power over people.  His religion, if he were to have one, would be one that would take the best of many religions and throw off the elements that are about the acceptance on basis of faith only, of direction and authority of leaders, as well as unreasoned adherence to such leadership and attendant ceremony.  Jefferson would say religion requires careful thought, not reflective acceptance. Specifically, a quote from Jefferson,  in a letter to his nephew:

“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”

Jefferson failed in many ways.  He failed to find a path toward ending slavery, which he viewed as an abominable institution.  He did not emancipate his own slaves in his lifetime, even though he could well had done so.  He was generous with family and friends, but left his family in deep and unrelenting debt.  He lived in different times and should be judged in the context of those times, but he also lacked the courage to overcome flaws that he knew were wrong in the eyes of any Creator, and future judgement, as he was always looking toward the future in his life.

During a difficult and nascent period in our country and government, he was singular in ensuring the survivability of a democratic republic at a time when it’s survivability was so immensely in doubt.  Furthermore, he envisioned and ensured that our country could grow to occupy the continent with the Louisiana Purchase.  He helped President Monroe with the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine, ensuring a sovereign message of preeminence of the USA in the Western Hemisphere to discourage adventurous behavior of European nations.  So much service to our country and our growth and future across the continent  throughout a 40-year history of public service.

Despite personal failures, he deserves our praise for advancing the cause of freedom of peoples over dictatorship and hereditary-based rule, through the design and survival of the grand experiment in democracy!  So too, he deserves our approbation for ensuring that education, continuous learning, and unrelenting reasoning are important elements of country!

A book well worth reading, and reasoning about!