''The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth'', better known as the ''Jefferson Bible'' is an interpretation of the New Testament by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. The highly controversial interpretation removes many passages and any reference to the divinity of Jesus.
[[Category:Bible Versions]]

Thomas Jefferson

2009-02-12T00:05:52Z

MWM958:

{{President
|image=TCJJ.jpg
|seq=3
|term_start=March 4, 1801
|term_end=March 4, 1809<ref>http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1095.html</ref>
|party=Democratic-Republican
|vp=Aaron Burr
|vp_dates=1801-1805
|2vp=George Clinton
|2vp_dates=1805-1809
|previous=John Adams
|next=James Madison
|office2=vice
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|term_start2=March 4, 1797
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|pres_dates2=
|previous2=John Adams
|next2=Aaron Burr
|birth_date=April 13, 1743
|birth_place=Shadwell, Virginia
|death_date=July 4, 1826
|death_place=Charlottesville, Virginia
|spouse=Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
|religion=Deist/Unitarian?
}}
'''Thomas Jefferson''' (1743-1826) was the 3rd [[President of the United States of America]] and often credited as the author of the [[Declaration of Independence]], although he had considerable input from [[John Adams]].

Jefferson was a prominent [[architect]], [[inventor]] and [[scientist]]. Jefferson, along with [[James Madison]], was a member of the [[Democratic-Republican Party]], an early political group that was opposed by the [[Federalist Party]]. After first serving as [[Vice President]] under John Adams, he defeated Adams in the next election and became President in his own right, a position that he held for 2 terms (8 years). Based on the early history of elections in the United States, the Vice President was not at that time appointed by the President as is true today. The Vice Presidency went to the person with the second highest number of election delegates, which was Jefferson. Jefferson, even though he was Vice President under Adams, was not a part of Adam's Federalist Party and in fact was opposed to much of Adam's political work. Jefferson is widely revered among [[libertarianism|libertarians]] for his work on the [[Declaration of Independence]] and political views.

==Presidency (1801-1809)==
Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated the third [[President of the United States]] on March 4, 1801 in the infant capital on the Potomac. The new President filled his cabinet with moderate Republicans, those in a more radical persuasion were disappointed. Although it became a model of executive [[unity]], the cabinet meet infrequently. Jefferson had the pleasure of dominating [[Congress]]. In 1801, for the first time, Republicans controlled both houses of the legislator. The [[federalist]]s were a shrinking minority. Congress depended on executive initiatives and usually followed them. Nearly all the legislation during his eight years in office originated with the President and his secretaries.

Jefferson's long held fiscal philosophy was that public [[debt]] and [[tax]]es were evils of the first magnitude. As President Jefferson slashed [[Army]] and [[Navy]] expenditures, cut the budget, eliminated the [[tax]] on whiskey so unpopular in the West, yet reduced the national debt by a third. He also sent a naval squadron to fight the Barbary pirates, who were harassing American commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, although the Constitution made no provision for the acquisition of new land, Jefferson suppressed his qualms over constitutionality when he had the opportunity to acquire the [[Louisiana]] Territory from [[Napoleon]] in 1803. This then controversial [[Louisiana Purchase]] doubled the size of the United States of America, for 15 million dollars. Jefferson sent [[Captain]] [[Meriwether Lewis]] and [[Lieutenant]] [[William Clark]] for an expedition of the new American territory.

During Jefferson's second term, he was increasingly preoccupied with keeping the Nation from involvement in the Napoleonic wars, though both [[England]] and [[France]] interfered with the neutral rights of American merchantmen. Jefferson's attempted solution, an [[Embargo of 1807|embargo upon American shipping]], failed badly and had to be repealed.

==Religious Views==

Many liberal textbooks and online resources claim that Jefferson was a [[deist]],<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deist_thinkers</ref> but Jefferson's own description of his views show more complexity.

In one of his writings now inscribed on the [[Jefferson Memorial]] in Washington, D.C., Jefferson said:

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

Jefferson's Second Inaugural Address implied that, unlike [[deists]], he believed in divine intervention:<blockquote>"I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old."</blockquote>

In an 1803 letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Jefferson declared that "I am a Christian," though his view of [[Christianity]] was different from most:
<blockquote>I then promised you that one day or other I would give you my views of [the Christian religion]. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others, ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other.<ref>Jefferson, Thomas, April 21, 1803: Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush[http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/jeffbsyl.html]</ref></blockquote>

However, despite Jefferson's self-declared Christianity, many of his views would be considered incorrect or even [[heretical]] by most Christians. Most notably, he attempted to create the [[Jefferson Bible]] - an edited version of the [[New Testament]] intended to retain Christ's moral and practical teaching, while disposing of supernatural or inconvenient elements.

Jefferson certainly believed [[Jesus]] to be a great teacher of morality, and believed the universe to be created by a God. Less clear is his views on subjects such as the divinity of Christ, [[the resurrection]], [[sin]] and [[salvation]]. The Jefferson Bible suggests he rejects these ideas entirely, but is not definitive. Jefferson never had the Bible published during his lifetime. He did have this to say about Christianity and the message contained in the work that he created.

<blockquote>There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.<ref>http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/jefferson_m_03.html</ref></blockquote>

==The Right to Bear Arms==
"In a nation governed by the people themselves, the possession of arms to defend their nation against usurpers within and without was deemed absolutely necessary. This right is protected by the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. A gun was an everyday implement in early American society, and Jefferson recommended its use." <ref>[http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1500.htm#Arms Jefferson on Politics & Government: Civil Rights]</ref>

<blockquote>A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks. --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. ME 5:85, Papers 8:407</blockquote>

<blockquote>The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed. --Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824. ME 16:45</blockquote>

<blockquote>One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them. --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. ME 9:341</blockquote>

== Architecture ==
[[Image:University of Virginia.jpg|thumb|The Rotunda of the University of Virginia. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson.]]

Jefferson was the founder of the University of Virginia and designer of ''his "academical village"''; he did among others the drawings for ''The Rotunda'' in 1819. ''Although never formally trained in architecture, Jefferson had studied the structures of Europe and read extensively on the great architects of Europe... Jefferson contributed his architectural statement to federal buildings as well, assisting Pierre L'Enfant in the design and layout of the new Federal City of Washington and designing the state capitol in [[Richmond]]. Jefferson believed that "from architecture would flow education in taste, values, and ideals," and therefore constructed buildings that became ideas for America. '' <ref>[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/jeff/jeffarch.html Jefferson and the Politics of Architecture]</ref>

<blockquote>
Jefferson believed that architecture was the heart of the American cause. In his mind, a building was not merely a walled structure, but a metaphor for American ideology, and the process of construction was equal to the task of building a nation. The architecture of any American building should express the American desire to break cultural--as well as political--ties to Europe. American architecture, Jefferson believed, would embody the fulfillment of the civic life of Americans, and he sought to establish the standards of a national architecture, both aesthetically and politically. [[Ibidem]]
</blockquote>

Jefferson was an admirer of [[Andrea Palladio]]; the Palladian influece may be seen at Thomas Jefferson's estate Monticello (1768 - 1809). ''We know that he owned Palladio's treatise on the Five Orders, and that he followed Palladio's ideas.''<ref> [http://www.oldandsold.com/articles10/famous-buildings-51.shtml Famous Buildings In America]</ref>

<blockquote>
[[Thomas Jefferson]] was among the many people who submitted a plan for the White House. His design, however, was not chosen. Instead, James Hoban, an Irish immigrant architect living in Charleston, [[South Carolina]], won the competition and a $500 prize, with a design modeled after Leister House in [[Dublin]], [[Ireland]]. <ref>[http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/nation/whitehse_2 The White House.]</ref>
</blockquote>
{{cquote|
''"Whenever it is proposed to prepare plans for the Capitol, I should prefer the adoption of some one of the models of antiquity which have had the approbation of thousands of years; and for the President's house I should prefer the celebrated fronts of modern buildings which have already received the approbation of all good judges. Such are the Galerie du Louvre, the Garde Meubles; and two fronts of the Hotel de Salm."'' T. Jefferson. <ref> Thomas Jefferson to L'Enfant, April 10, 1791, in Saul K. Padover, ed., Thomas Jefferson and the National Capital (Washington, D. C.: US Government Printing Office, 1946), 59. </ref>
}}

==Death==

Jefferson died on July 4th, [[Independence Day]], in 1826. It was the same day as the death of [[John Adams]]. While rivals during their time in government, they started writing personal letters to each other in later life.

==See also==
* [[Jeffersonian Democracy]]
* [[Embargo of 1807]]
==References==
<references/>

{{USPresidents}}
{{USVicePresidents}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Thomas}}
[[Category: Founding Fathers]]
[[Category:American Revolution]]
[[Category:Republicanism]]
[[Category:Early National U.S.]]
[[Category:Virginia Governors]]

Thomas Jefferson

2009-02-12T00:05:22Z

MWM958:

{{President
|image=TCJJ.jpg
|seq=3
|term_start=March 4, 1801
|term_end=March 4, 1809<ref>http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1095.html</ref>
|party=Democratic-Republican
|vp=Aaron Burr
|vp_dates=1801-1805
|2vp=George Clinton
|2vp_dates=1805-1809
|previous=John Adams
|next=James Madison
|office2=vice
|seq2=2
|term_start2=March 4, 1797
|term_end2=March 4, 1801
|party2=Democratic-Republican
|pres2=John Adams
|pres_dates2=
|previous2=John Adams
|next2=Aaron Burr
|birth_date=April 13, 1743
|birth_place=Shadwell, Virginia
|death_date=July 4, 1826
|death_place=Charlottesville, Virginia
|spouse=Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson
|religion=Diest/Unitarian?
}}
'''Thomas Jefferson''' (1743-1826) was the 3rd [[President of the United States of America]] and often credited as the author of the [[Declaration of Independence]], although he had considerable input from [[John Adams]].

Jefferson was a prominent [[architect]], [[inventor]] and [[scientist]]. Jefferson, along with [[James Madison]], was a member of the [[Democratic-Republican Party]], an early political group that was opposed by the [[Federalist Party]]. After first serving as [[Vice President]] under John Adams, he defeated Adams in the next election and became President in his own right, a position that he held for 2 terms (8 years). Based on the early history of elections in the United States, the Vice President was not at that time appointed by the President as is true today. The Vice Presidency went to the person with the second highest number of election delegates, which was Jefferson. Jefferson, even though he was Vice President under Adams, was not a part of Adam's Federalist Party and in fact was opposed to much of Adam's political work. Jefferson is widely revered among [[libertarianism|libertarians]] for his work on the [[Declaration of Independence]] and political views.

==Presidency (1801-1809)==
Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated the third [[President of the United States]] on March 4, 1801 in the infant capital on the Potomac. The new President filled his cabinet with moderate Republicans, those in a more radical persuasion were disappointed. Although it became a model of executive [[unity]], the cabinet meet infrequently. Jefferson had the pleasure of dominating [[Congress]]. In 1801, for the first time, Republicans controlled both houses of the legislator. The [[federalist]]s were a shrinking minority. Congress depended on executive initiatives and usually followed them. Nearly all the legislation during his eight years in office originated with the President and his secretaries.

Jefferson's long held fiscal philosophy was that public [[debt]] and [[tax]]es were evils of the first magnitude. As President Jefferson slashed [[Army]] and [[Navy]] expenditures, cut the budget, eliminated the [[tax]] on whiskey so unpopular in the West, yet reduced the national debt by a third. He also sent a naval squadron to fight the Barbary pirates, who were harassing American commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, although the Constitution made no provision for the acquisition of new land, Jefferson suppressed his qualms over constitutionality when he had the opportunity to acquire the [[Louisiana]] Territory from [[Napoleon]] in 1803. This then controversial [[Louisiana Purchase]] doubled the size of the United States of America, for 15 million dollars. Jefferson sent [[Captain]] [[Meriwether Lewis]] and [[Lieutenant]] [[William Clark]] for an expedition of the new American territory.

During Jefferson's second term, he was increasingly preoccupied with keeping the Nation from involvement in the Napoleonic wars, though both [[England]] and [[France]] interfered with the neutral rights of American merchantmen. Jefferson's attempted solution, an [[Embargo of 1807|embargo upon American shipping]], failed badly and had to be repealed.

==Religious Views==

Many liberal textbooks and online resources claim that Jefferson was a [[deist]],<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deist_thinkers</ref> but Jefferson's own description of his views show more complexity.

In one of his writings now inscribed on the [[Jefferson Memorial]] in Washington, D.C., Jefferson said:

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

Jefferson's Second Inaugural Address implied that, unlike [[deists]], he believed in divine intervention:<blockquote>"I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old."</blockquote>

In an 1803 letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Jefferson declared that "I am a Christian," though his view of [[Christianity]] was different from most:
<blockquote>I then promised you that one day or other I would give you my views of [the Christian religion]. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others, ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other.<ref>Jefferson, Thomas, April 21, 1803: Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush[http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/jeffbsyl.html]</ref></blockquote>

However, despite Jefferson's self-declared Christianity, many of his views would be considered incorrect or even [[heretical]] by most Christians. Most notably, he attempted to create the [[Jefferson Bible]] - an edited version of the [[New Testament]] intended to retain Christ's moral and practical teaching, while disposing of supernatural or inconvenient elements.

Jefferson certainly believed [[Jesus]] to be a great teacher of morality, and believed the universe to be created by a God. Less clear is his views on subjects such as the divinity of Christ, [[the resurrection]], [[sin]] and [[salvation]]. The Jefferson Bible suggests he rejects these ideas entirely, but is not definitive. Jefferson never had the Bible published during his lifetime. He did have this to say about Christianity and the message contained in the work that he created.

<blockquote>There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.<ref>http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/jefferson_m_03.html</ref></blockquote>

==The Right to Bear Arms==
"In a nation governed by the people themselves, the possession of arms to defend their nation against usurpers within and without was deemed absolutely necessary. This right is protected by the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. A gun was an everyday implement in early American society, and Jefferson recommended its use." <ref>[http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1500.htm#Arms Jefferson on Politics & Government: Civil Rights]</ref>

<blockquote>A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks. --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. ME 5:85, Papers 8:407</blockquote>

<blockquote>The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed. --Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824. ME 16:45</blockquote>

<blockquote>One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them. --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. ME 9:341</blockquote>

== Architecture ==
[[Image:University of Virginia.jpg|thumb|The Rotunda of the University of Virginia. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson.]]

Jefferson was the founder of the University of Virginia and designer of ''his "academical village"''; he did among others the drawings for ''The Rotunda'' in 1819. ''Although never formally trained in architecture, Jefferson had studied the structures of Europe and read extensively on the great architects of Europe... Jefferson contributed his architectural statement to federal buildings as well, assisting Pierre L'Enfant in the design and layout of the new Federal City of Washington and designing the state capitol in [[Richmond]]. Jefferson believed that "from architecture would flow education in taste, values, and ideals," and therefore constructed buildings that became ideas for America. '' <ref>[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/jeff/jeffarch.html Jefferson and the Politics of Architecture]</ref>

<blockquote>
Jefferson believed that architecture was the heart of the American cause. In his mind, a building was not merely a walled structure, but a metaphor for American ideology, and the process of construction was equal to the task of building a nation. The architecture of any American building should express the American desire to break cultural--as well as political--ties to Europe. American architecture, Jefferson believed, would embody the fulfillment of the civic life of Americans, and he sought to establish the standards of a national architecture, both aesthetically and politically. [[Ibidem]]
</blockquote>

Jefferson was an admirer of [[Andrea Palladio]]; the Palladian influece may be seen at Thomas Jefferson's estate Monticello (1768 - 1809). ''We know that he owned Palladio's treatise on the Five Orders, and that he followed Palladio's ideas.''<ref> [http://www.oldandsold.com/articles10/famous-buildings-51.shtml Famous Buildings In America]</ref>

<blockquote>
[[Thomas Jefferson]] was among the many people who submitted a plan for the White House. His design, however, was not chosen. Instead, James Hoban, an Irish immigrant architect living in Charleston, [[South Carolina]], won the competition and a $500 prize, with a design modeled after Leister House in [[Dublin]], [[Ireland]]. <ref>[http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/nation/whitehse_2 The White House.]</ref>
</blockquote>
{{cquote|
''"Whenever it is proposed to prepare plans for the Capitol, I should prefer the adoption of some one of the models of antiquity which have had the approbation of thousands of years; and for the President's house I should prefer the celebrated fronts of modern buildings which have already received the approbation of all good judges. Such are the Galerie du Louvre, the Garde Meubles; and two fronts of the Hotel de Salm."'' T. Jefferson. <ref> Thomas Jefferson to L'Enfant, April 10, 1791, in Saul K. Padover, ed., Thomas Jefferson and the National Capital (Washington, D. C.: US Government Printing Office, 1946), 59. </ref>
}}

==Death==

Jefferson died on July 4th, [[Independence Day]], in 1826. It was the same day as the death of [[John Adams]]. While rivals during their time in government, they started writing personal letters to each other in later life.

==See also==
* [[Jeffersonian Democracy]]
* [[Embargo of 1807]]
==References==
<references/>

{{USPresidents}}
{{USVicePresidents}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Thomas}}
[[Category: Founding Fathers]]
[[Category:American Revolution]]
[[Category:Republicanism]]
[[Category:Early National U.S.]]
[[Category:Virginia Governors]]