Opus 2015-397: Channeling Jefferson

One of the great divides in history that is usually overlooked is the difference in philosophy between the George Washington branch of the Founding Fathers and the Thomas Jefferson branch.  Every year when I go through the Constitution I point out to the students that Thomas Jefferson was not at the Constitutional Convention.  If he had been there we would not have the freedoms we now have.  In my opinion we might have degenerated into the glories of the French Revolution which Jefferson praised for so long. 

That is a discussion for another day.

What I came across while reading a biography of John Marshall was a section that talked about the attitude of the Continental soldier towards Jefferson.  While the soldiers were starving, going naked and did not have enough arms to fight, the soldiers were wondering where the author of the Declaration of Independence was.  Even Washington wrote to a friend, “in the present situation of things, I cannot help asking - where is Mason - Wythe - Jefferson?”, p. 126

The author explains.

“...Jefferson was in the State Legislature.  But he was not there merely enjoying office and exclusively engaged in party politics as Washington more than intimates.  He was starting such vital reforms as the abolition of entails, the revision of the criminal code, the establishment of a free school system, the laying of the legal foundations of religions freedom.
    “In short Jefferson was sowing the seeds of liberalism in Virginia.” p. 128

He goes on.  He is willing to forgive Jefferson of almost anything because he was a great writer and politician.  He shares that Jefferson admitted he was not suited for the soldiers life and combat.  If we could use that logic for us common folks, then how big would our army have been during World War II.  Would anyone have gone to Korea or Vietnam?  I hated army life.  I am not a warrior.  I can write a clever sentence and know where to put periods.

We are looking at the beginnings of the class differences that some people, such as Jefferson, believed in even as they talked about inalienable rights.  We still have those people with us.  They want to tell us how we should live, while they live in isolated splendor.  Picture Al Gore and the money he has made manipulating our carbon footprints.  Picture Mitch McConnell saying, “We will get them next time.”

It is time to expect everyone to follow the same laws and risk the same consequences.  Will Hillary go to jail?  Stupid question.  Would you or I go to jail?  Obvious answer. 

The Jeffersons of life are still with us.

Beveridge, Albert J.  The Life of John Marshall, Vol. 1.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916.

homo unius libri