what would Thomas Jefferson say?

lewy911|February 19, 2019

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“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” 
― Thomas Jefferson 

Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd US President.  Like all Presidents he was an imperfect man in imperfect times.  His words above speak about actions showing more than words. We don’t have to be asking ourselves as Americans who we are, we have to show it and we have to do something for ourselves and our world. In this case Thomas Jefferson said it as a US President and so it can be advice for the current and future Presidents. The president has to show who they are with action, and who they want to become.  The actions of a President as a leader should move the progress of the people forward.  President Jefferson owned slaves because he was an imperfect man in imperfect times but he also was the man who gave us the Declaration off Independence and the ideas of American Civil Rights so that we could move forward with actions to make a “more perfect union”  based on his idea that “all men are created equal.”

 

“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.” 
― Thomas Jefferson

The quote above is a prediction for the happiness of American citizens.   It relates to what is happening right now with the government. For example, Donald Trump is pretending to take care of the people by building the wall, but it just caused  that the government to shut down because no one wanted to help him to build the wall. It  has been the longest time that the government has shut down. It caused the waste of money for the government even when they say that it has saved money. For example, people have gotten paid late without being working so that is a waste of money and time.  Those people could be doing something important and productive for the country, but because the government shut down they couldn’t go to work. Both quotes relate almost to the same thing because this action from Donald Trump has shown who he is and what he wants to do. In my opinion he just wanted to complete his promise of building the wall. He just wants to look good to the American people but instead most are either laughing or crying at their so called President.

The American people want a leader who is serious about providing for the “general welfare”.  This video shows that the “pretense” of President Trump’s leadership is nothing but a bad joke on the American people.

How do we remember him?:  https://www.nps.gov/thje/learn/photosmultimedia/quotations.htm

 

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Inscriptions:

Rotunda

“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

-Excerpted from a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800.

Southwest Portico

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We…solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of a right ought to be free and independent states…and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.”

-Excerpted from the Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Northwest Portico

“Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens…are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion…No man shall be compelled to frequent or support religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.”

-Excerpted from A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, drafted in 1777. First introduced in the Virginia General Assembly in 1779, after he had become Governor. Passed by the Virginia Assembly in 1786, while Jefferson was serving as Minister to France. The last sentence is excerpted from a letter to James Madison, August 28, 1789, as he was returning to America to assume his position as Secretary of State.

Northeast Portico

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state to effect and on a general plan.”

-Excerpted from multiple sources: “A Summary View of the Rights of British America,” “Notes on the State of Virginia,” “The Autobiography,” letter to George Wythe (1790), letter to George Washington (1786).

Southeast Portico:

“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

-Excerpted from a letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816.

 

 

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https://www.nps.gov/thje/learn/historyculture/thjebio.htm