Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

You be the judge.

Yesterday was Thomas Jefferson's 279th birthday. He was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell, a plantation on a large tract of land near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia. His father, Peter Jefferson (1707/08-57), was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson (1720-76), came from a prominent Virginia family. Thomas was their third child and eldest son; he had six sisters and one surviving brother.

Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.

At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.

At 9, studied Latin, Greek, and French.

At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.

At 16, entered the College of William and Mary. Could write in Greek with one hand while writing the same in Latin with the other.

At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.

At 23, started his own law practice.

At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America? And retired from his law practice.

At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.

At 33, took three years to revise Virginia 's legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.

At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.

At 40, served in Congress for two years.

At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.

At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.

At 53, served as Vice President, and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.

At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.

At 57, was elected the third president of the United States.

At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's size.

At 61, was elected to a second term as President.

At 65, retired to Monticello.

At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.

At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.

At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams died the same day.

Thomas Jefferson understood actual history, the nature of God, His laws, and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. What Jefferson knew could lead us in the present:

A few quotations:

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

"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."

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.

Edited from the internet.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Slavery is not a 'democratic' state for the enslaved.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." Bad luck if you're a slave and want some 2nd amendment.

" ... Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal,” and yet enslaved more than six-hundred people over the course of his life. Although he made some legislative attempts against slavery and at times bemoaned its existence, he also profited directly from the institution of slavery and wrote that he suspected black people to be inferior to white people in his Notes on the State of Virginia. ..."

I'll concede that Jefferson, even with the human trafficking activity, was a better POTUS than Trump ... and he could find Finland on a map.

btw - "At 16, entered the College of William and Mary. Could write in Greek with one hand while writing the same in Latin with the other." Chet Atkins could play Yankee Doodle and Dixie at the same time on the guitar. jussayin'

DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

Jefferson was a theist.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Gee, what was your first clue?

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

In your opinion would Jefferson be an 'intelligent design' bandwagon fanboy today? Why?

One of Jefferson's biggest bugbears was '2nd amendment crazy' armed slaves that wouldn't work gratis.

A “bellum servile,” or large-scale rebellion, was the type of slave resistance Jefferson feared most. Only 3 of the 607 enslaved people he owned in his lifetime were ever accused of “… rebelling and making insurrection.”

"... and don't mention the prickly Haitian slave revolt to T. Jefferson" George Jefferson to Wezzy Jefferson.

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

My opinion on this matter is irrelevant.

anotherview Loc: California

A gifted man who helped shape the American way. His peccadillos in hindsight may stain his image but not substract from his contribution to his country.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Jefferson was instrumental in shaping the union, but let's not make him out to be a saint.
If he were alive today, he'd be shocked that we don't have slaves, that we allow non-landowners women and non-whites to vote.
He was a man of his time but he'd be totally lost today.

InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA

You know nothing of history. Jefferson despised holding the slaves that he inherited from his father's estate. Unfortunately under Virginia law, patterned much after British Law of the time, he also inherited his father's debts. He could not give his slaves their freedom because they were property and the under the debt laws of the day, you could not "give away" property, it had to be sold to help pay your debtors. Instead of selling his slaves into additional servitude, he made their life as comfortable as possible and made sure that all of them learned to read and write.

Jefferson hated slavery which is why he set the crumbling foundation of the union that would eventually lead to the civil war.

DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

Just pointing that out for foto man that apparently didn’t know it or more likely doesn’t know what a Theist is

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Are you making the assumption that he didn't know what a Theist was?

FrumCA

anotherview Loc: California

Thanks for clarification.

DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

Not true!

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

One needs to judge a man by an agreed-upon standard against which all men of the time are compared. Otherwise, there can be no judgment, only a biased opinion.

Slavery was an acceptable and world-wide practice of the age. Universal freedom which does not even exist in the world today depends on conditions which can only emerge at a certain stage of historical development. Only the naieve seek to judge individuals in history by the standards we set for ourselves today. Intelligent thinkers take people of the past in the totality of the world they lived in.

In The Declaration of Independence Jefferson laid down the most eloquent treatise of the day on the philosophical rights of the individual. The fact that he was able to enflame the world with the notion of the spirit of human liberty in spite of the fact that he owned slaves was actually a testament to the ethical objectivism of his ideas.