Presentism In Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson once wrote that all men were created equal; however, he owned and sold slaves for profit. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, ran for election in 1800 and started the Jeffersonian Revolution with his election. Jefferson was a Republican who won the office from the previous Federalist president, John Adams. With his fresh presidency, Jefferson sought out to further limit the Federal Governments power and to give more democracy to the people. Jefferson believed in many things as a Republican and as a human, but his life-time and presidency oftentimes portrayed the opposite of his founding beliefs. These contradictions that Jefferson illustrated during his years showed a representation of not only American history, but even what it means to be human.

He is best remembered as a great president and as the author of the Declaration of Independence. He also won lasting fame as a diplomat, a political thinker, and a founder of the Democratic Party. Jefferson's interests and talents covered an amazing range. He became one of the leading American architects of his time and designed the Virginia Capitol, the University of Virginia, and his own home, Monticello. He greatly appreciated art and music and tried to encourage their advancement in the United States. He arranged for the famous French sculptor Jean Houdon to come to America to make a statue of George Washington. Jefferson also posed for Houdon and for the famous American portrait painter Gilbert Stuart.

Works Cited Sadosky, L. J. (2016). Jefferson, Thomas. Worldbookonline.com. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar286800&st=thomas+jefferson#tab=homepage Thomas Jefferson. (2009).

     Joseph J. Ellis, a historian who was educated at the College of William and Mary and Yale, is a Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke University. He has written four books on historical topics, centered on the time Jefferson was alive, dealing with issues and personalities Jefferson dealt with firsthand. After authoring a book on a politician such as John Adams, Ellis seems to have felt a need or want to focus on Jefferson, presumably because of his status as founding father and main contributor to the constitution.

The philosophies of Thomas Jefferson are often at odds with one another. On one hand, he looks to enlightenment ideals and writes of natural rights and equalities for all men in his drafting of the Declaration of Independence (more on Jefferson’s and the Enlightenment can be found here). He also proposes legislature that prohibits the spread of slavery to new states. However, his role as a slave owner contradicts his philosophy on liberty in a profound way. His book Notes on the State of Virginia represents the depth of his thought against black people as an equal race to whites, and he includes a breakdown for the reasons that he believes integration is not a viable alternative to the problem of slavery (the full content can be read half way down the page here). Then, there are the facts surrounding his personal relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings and the children he fathered with her. This contradiction of attitude and philosophy is directly related to Jefferson’s cultural influences having grown up surrounded by slavery as an acceptable way of life. He ultimately falls back on society’s view of black people as inferior to justify his way of life, and calm his fears of the possible violent ramifications of emancipating his slaves (this is a reference to slave revolts). For more on this topic see my complete work here.

Thomas Jefferson is a well-known name in the United States history. Thomas Jefferson accomplished many goals and ideas during his lifespan. He was a founding father, he wrote the Declaration of Independence and serve as president for 2 terms from 1801 to 1809. During his first term as president, there was speculation of him having a relationship with Sally Hemings a slave. As of today, it is still unknown if it was true and if he was the father of 6. For two centuries there has been disagreement with this controversy however, there has been DNA test on Thomas Jefferson’s male descendants and Sally Hemings relatives and the real answer is still undiscovered.

Jefferson’s triumphs and failures depend on where you stand in history. He penned skillful sentences and phrases that are used today, but many were contradictions of his own choices. “All men are born equal” is a glaring inconsistency about slavery—slaves were not equal. In his book, Richard Hofstadter said that Thomas Jefferson was filled with “gentle condescension” due to his aristocratic upbringing. He wanted a government that kept peace and protected property with little involvement in other aspects of life such as the bank and economy. At his very core, Jefferson was a well-spoken, thoughtful pragmatist, but incredibly contradictory. These contradictions made his successes as much as his failures.

Many historians and American alike tend to encircle the Founding Fathers of this nation in a shield of untouchable morality. With Thomas Jefferson, there is a particularly strong need for him to be seen as a man of outstanding character. However, Jefferson’s personally life has long been plagued with stories of controversy, particularly his intimate life involving one of his slaves, Sarah, or Sally, Hemings. By examining the relationships of Thomas Jefferson, with strong attention to the Hemings family, it becomes clear that his intimate life is one of America’s greatest historical scandals.

Thomas Jefferson's ideals and beliefs were derived from a deep regard for life, liberty, and freedom. His concept of individual freedoms strongly disagreed with the notion of a "guided republic" which he believed concentrated a great deal unchecked power among a few people. This could have the potential of tyrannical government that might suppress personal freedoms of any kind especially those of religion, which Jefferson feels very strongly felt should be protected. After fighting hard to rid America of British domination, Jefferson was determined to create a government that was responsible to, and derived its powers from, a free people. As the writer of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for

Born in 1743, Thomas Jefferson lived and breathed an age of slavery in America, which greatly impacted his life choices. The question, “How could this man possess such a number of slaves if he himself was working for a nation of abolishment?” arises due to the concept today of presentism. Presentism is defined as having an opinion of the past which is heavily influenced by the attitudes and experiences of the present day. Hence,

Thomas Jefferson was believed to be a humble and respectful person, but not all accusations are true. Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States, he also created the Declaration of Independence which is a necessity for our country or government to run. Thomas Jefferson wanted everyone to be treated equally and some documents and information might disprove that fact. Some things he said disprove these different beliefs that he shared with the people. By studying this information, one might believe that Thomas Jefferson did not uphold his beliefs and had great inconsistency with them, you might consider him a hypocrite.

Upon reading and reviewing the text, I began to understand the Jeffersonian Era, and how it was different from the Early Republic Period. Also, why Jefferson was an important president during this era, and some of his problems. This highlights the troubles and triumphs the young country had as it began to shape its identity and place as a nation.

The Revolution of 1800 marked a new era for the United States: The Jeffersonian era. The Jefferson era was full of conflict, partisan zeal, and peaceful power. Although the peaceful transition of power from John Adam’s federalism to Thomas Jefferson’s republicanism marked a new era, to a significant extent Thomas Jefferson did not follow his original republican philosophies and policies he campaigned on during his presidency. Although Thomas Jefferson established Republican views such giving power to the states while campaigning to be president, during his presidency he abandoned these views to a significant extent, which is shown by the establishment of the Embargo Act, the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent Expedition, and Jefferson using the Militia to fight the war of 1812.

Breaking new about Jefferson's secret life!! Many people people didn't know that Thomas Jefferson was a slave-owner! He is a racist man, who treated African-American slave as property, as many white folks do, but he didn't free most of his slave unlike other. Now of this finding, we can prove that he went on his word of say "all men are created equal." It's baffling to believe that a one of our great nation's Founder Father and our 3rd President, could ever do such a thing like this! What could have driven him to do this? Could it have been the death of his

Before Thomas Jefferson ever entered the presidency, he believed in the “Empire of Liberty.” He wrote in a letter to a friend that “Our confederacy must be viewed as the nest from which all America, North or South, is to be peopled.” His motives for the intense eye on American expansion were greatness for his country, as well as for himself. He was disgusted with the idea of North America being divided into nation-states like Europe. His goal was for the ideals of the American Revolution to spread over the whole continent. He passed and helped pass some of the legislation that helped early America expand. He co-authored the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which allowed for states to be made from the territory east of the Mississippi and