Evening star., 1943-04-13
Jefferson

JeTTeISOn
Thomas Jefferson, born two CEN
turies ago today, is not easy to under
stand. He himself found the world
and all its creatures riddle. II have
sometimes asked myself" he wrote,
whether my country is the better for
my having lived at all" OF course,
the answer to his doubts must have
been known to him. "He could hug
to his breast the consoling fact that
three citizens out of every four
throughout the Union loved him, be-
lieved in him, looked up to him."
One OF his most objective biographers
declares in his behalf: "His record of
glorious achievement lived in deeds
accomplished, monument more en-
during than brass. OF this he felt
assured. His work would speak for
him when he was gone. How truly
great that work was the small men of
the hour could not know. Posterity
alone could realize his full stature"
But it would be poor service on
the part of the now living heirs of his
genius if they were to misrepresent
him for purposes not altogether un-
selfish. Jefferson, at the moment
when the beautiful white marble
memorial on the Potomac is being
dedicated, stands in some danger of
being taken into camp" by groups
that he would not approve. He was
not radical" as the word is used
in modern parlance. His conceptions
were philosophic in character. When
he talked of people, he did not mean
the mob. He feared and had an
aversion for the industrial artisan, or
urban proletarian, as he had, indeed,
for all the human products of cities,
and would have preferred to found
republic that would not include him."
1t likewise is true that he regarded
the organized state with distrust,
recommending government which
should restrain men from injuring
one another, but otherwise leave
them free to regulate their own pur-
suits" In the beginning of his first
inaugural-the finest of the utter
ances for which he was solely respon-
sible-he insisted: Though the will
OF the majority is in all cases to pre-
vail, that will, to be rightful must be
reasonable; -" B" the minority possess
their equal rights, which equal laws
must protect, and to violate which
would be oppression"
The ultimate goal of Jefferson, as
expressed in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, was libertarian in charac-
ter; but he understood that it Is only
in theory that "all men are created
equal" He stipulated "the pursuit of
happiness" its easy, undeserved
attainment-as the ideal of the free
nation he was helping to establish.
Nothing that he left in his public
papers fairly can be quoted in sup
port of current dogmas of paternal-
ism. He was an individualist from
the start to the finish of his career.
For that reason, he desired every
citizen educated for self sufhciency.
"If we can compare the whole of q
people to wheel, Chez believed in
keeping the power out at the rim or
near it; the one thing to be avoided
was to permit the power to collect
and to be administered wholly at the
hub" He opposed "the torrent of
consolidation" rarely employed the
word democracy" and deplored the
tendency of leaders to hold accur1ll-
lated power. His doctrine of praeti-
cal republicanism he summarized in
the pronouncement by which he re-
fused a third term as President:
Believing that a representative gov
ernment, responsible at short periods
OF election, is that which produces
the greatest sum of happiness to
mankind, I feel it to be duty to do
no act that shall essentially impair
Oiiao llilSAp1C.
With so many restrictions imposed
upon his heart and mind, 1t is a
matter of wonder that Jefferson ac-
complished such vast number of
services for the universal community.
The list of his deeds is given by
Thomas E. Watson in this language:
"The poison of monarchy was enter
ing the veins of our body polite, and
he drove it out. Aristocracy had
begun its intrenchments, and he
leveled them to the ground. Militar-
ism was about to be established, and
he checked 1t. The public debt was
being posted in permanence, and he
well-nigh extinguished 1t. Hemmed
In between the Mississippi and the
Atlantic We yere Hhra,f ~ ~ anea