Tag Archives: Thomas Jefferson

Presidents: “it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, on Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence: All honor to Jefferson, to the man who had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document an abstract truth, and so to embalm it there, … Continue reading

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Presidents: “a single character”

THOMAS JEFFERSON, on George Washington: The moderation and virtue of a single character probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish.

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Presidents: “Elections, my dear sir …”

From The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams; Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, Nov. 13 1787: How do you like our new constitution? I confess there are things in it which stagger all … Continue reading

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Presidents: “sacred and undeniable” became “self-evident”

From Paul Johnson’s superb book A History of the American People: Jefferson produced a superb draft, for which his 1774 pamphlet was a useful preparation. All kinds of philosophical and political influences went into it. They were all well-read men … Continue reading

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Presidents: “the eloquent lines of the second paragraph”

Excerpt from David McCullough’s John Adams: [Jefferson] worked rapidly [on writing the Declaration of Independence] and, to judge by surviving drafts, with a sure command of his material. He had none of his books with him, nor needed any, he … Continue reading

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Presidents: “the Jeffersonian utopia”

From Joseph Ellis’ book on Thomas Jefferson: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson: The vision he projected in the natural rights section of the Declaration, then, represented yet another formulation of the Jeffersonian imagination. The specific form of the … Continue reading

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Famous Last Words

John Adams – died July 4, 1826: “Thomas Jefferson–still survives…” (or perhaps … “Thomas Jefferson … lives…” There are enough eyewitness accounts to believe that he said something along those lines.) On the exact same day, Thomas Jefferson died. He … Continue reading

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Famous epitaphs

John Keats, great poet, who died in 1821 (and I think his birthday was Sunday), wrote his own epitaph, which is now rightly famous: “Here lies one whose name was writ in water.” But actually, the full epitaph reads like … Continue reading

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Today in history: Sept. 18, 1793

Not only is today my sister Jean Grania’s birthday (yes, she was named for the female pirate Gráinne Ni Mhaille, our most illustrious ancestor) – but today is also the day that George Washington laid the cornerstone for the US … Continue reading

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Summer Reading

… of the stars. I found this very enjoyable reading. What are “stars” reading this summer? Looks like pretty much everybody is reading Harry Potter (except Harold Bloom who is spending the summer re-reading the god-awful canon of the god-awful … Continue reading

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