HERE WAS BURIED

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Author of the

Declaration

 of

AMERICAN   Independence

 of the

STATUTE OF Virginia

FOR

Religious Freedom

AND FATHER OF THE

University of Virginia

BORN APRIL 2, 1743 O.S.

DIED JULY 4, 1826

These three accomplishments were the legacy for which Jefferson wished to be remembered, as he designed the tombstone for his grave. He insisted “not a word more”, as he felt these overshadowed his lesser accomplishments that included being the third President of the United States, first Secretary of State, second U.S. Vice-President, Governor of Virginia, Minister to France, and President of the Philadelphia Philosophical Society (a scientific society), member of the Board of Governors of the University of Virginia, while in his eighties.  During his administration, the United States made the Louisiana Purchase and he commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition.   

He was fluent in many foreign languages, including Greek and Latin, as well as native Indian dialects.  He was the architect for his home, Monticello , and provided drawings for the design of the Capitol Building as well as other government buildings.  He was a naturalist that kept copious notes on all forms of wildlife.  He continually experimented with new varieties of seeds and garden specimens, he considered himself a farmer.  He read thousands of books, wrote thousands of letters (over 18,000 survive¹), and communicated with the leading figures of his time.  His friends included James Madison, James Monroe, George Washington, Patrick Henry, George Mason, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin and John Adams.  The last was a political adversary during his Presidency, but in later years they reconciled and became friends through their letters.  It is hard to imagine a more successful life.  At the turn of the century, George Will called him the “man of the millennium”.

 Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, (Gregorian calendar), on a plantation along the Rivanna River , in Virginia .  In his youth he was educated in the Greek and Latin classics, he studied the Roman writers like Cicero and Cato.  He was influenced by John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government^2.  The freedoms that we take for granted today, were not the norm in his day.  He and the other founders took ideas expressed by former champions of liberty, over hundreds of years, and incorporated them into a working government. While he was in France during the Constitutional Convention and the subsequent ratification conventions in the original states, his advice on constructing the new government was sought and given through numerous letters.  For the first time in history a government was formed that was subservient to the people, with severe limitations to protect the basic rights of freedom. 

He and his contemporaries bridged the gap between philosophical ideals and practical reality. What they accomplished benefited hundreds of millions of Americans and lay the groundwork for a way of life that only a small percentage of all humanity has enjoyed.  He was a man of ideas and a man of action.  Most remarkable is that he and the other founders were successful, respected gentry, the leaders of their communities before the Revolution. Washington and Franklin were two of the richest men in the colonies.  They were a part of the privileged class, who could have opted for a comfortable life without risk. Instead they gambled their lives and fortunes, against tremendous odds, for their ideals. Failure would certainly have resulted in their death.  In later life, when most men temper their ideals – Jefferson advocated that  “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”. He recognized that freedom is never free.

Another quote appropriate today is “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

.He was a champion of free trade, and the enemy of a central bank.

 Much has been written about Thomas Jefferson.  In 1775, he, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston and John Adams were named to a committee to write the resolution for independence.  Jefferson is credited for writing the document that the others fine-tuned.  It was signed on July 4, 1775.  Fifty years later, on that same date John Adams uttered his last words, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” Technically, he was wrong, Jefferson had died just a few hours before.  But in a larger sense, he was right – he survives in the hearts and minds of all who cherish liberty.

Gerald Frendt, April, 2009

¹ Jim Powell, The Triumph of Liberty ( New York : The Fee Press, A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc., 2000)  32. 

² Powell, 34