Happy Birthday Thomas Jefferson!
Today marks the 274th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth…
One of the most well-known founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, in addition to serving as the second Vice President and third President of the United States.
The Declaration of Independence is one of the greatest and most influential political documents of all time. Although often understood as a mere declaration of intention to sever political ties with Britain, it is, in fact, a carefully crafted argument justifying that intention. The Founders offered a careful set of arguments for armed revolution, a course that was not undertaken lightly, with full awareness of the consequences. Each signatory knew that he was signing his own death warrant in the event of failure.
In drafting the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson expressed a sophisticated, radical vision of liberty with awesome grace and eloquence. He affirmed that all people are entitled to liberty, regardless what laws might say. If laws don’t protect liberty, he declared, then the laws are illegitimate, and people should rebel. While Jefferson didn’t originate this idea, he put it in a way that set afire the imagination of people around the world. Moreover, he articulated a doctrine for strictly limiting the power of government, the most dangerous threat to liberty everywhere.
The ideas of liberty he promoted continue to form the basis of the American cultural heritage today.
Jefferson was among the most learned men of his time. With his gifted pen and meticulous script, Jefferson drafted more reports, resolutions, legislation and related official documents than any other Founding Father. Jefferson set a new, individualist standard for virtue: that what counted most was the way individuals conducted their private lives, their contribution to civil society rather than politics.
Though Jefferson had personal failings — in the case of slavery, a monstrous one — Jefferson’s accomplishments and philosophy of liberty must be recognized for their monumental importance.
The most enduring legacy of the American Revolution is the attempt to establish a system of individual liberty and limited government governed by law—a system consistent with the nature of human beings as moral agents with inalienable rights. That effort has been an inspiration to lovers of liberty all around the globe.
