by David Barton
15. “Thomas Jefferson and the Bible: Publications He Owned,” Thomas Jefferson Foundation, January 2007, October 25, 2011, http://www.monticello.org/library/exhibits/images/biblepublications.pdf.
16. Thomas Jefferson, The Works of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul Leicester Ford, vol. 11 (New York: G. P. Putman and Sons, 1905), 6.
17. Ibid., 84.
18. Henry S. Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 3 (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1858), 654.
19. See Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 30:238, 31:394.
20. Richard Peters, ed., “An Act in Addition to an Act Entitled ‘An Act, in Addition to an Act Regulating the Grants of Land Appropriated for Military Services, and for the Society of the United Brethren, for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen,’” The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1845), 155.
21. The Reverend William Bennet, “The Excellence of Christian Morality, A Sermon Preached before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, at their Anniversary Meeting, Thursday, 6th June 1799” (Edinburgh: J. Ritchie, 1800).
22. Thomas Jefferson’s Abridgement of The Words of Jesus of Nazareth (Charlottesville: Mark Beliles, 1993), 13–14.
23. Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Lipscomb, 10:376–377.
24. Thomas Jefferson’s Abridgement of the Words of Jesus of Nazareth (Charlottesville: Mark Beliles, 1993), 14.
25. Walter Lowrie and Matthew St. Claire Clarke, eds., “The Kaskaskia and Other Tribes,” American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive of the Congress of the United States, vol. 4 (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1832), 687.
26. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 103, n. 5 (1983) (Rehnquist, J. dissenting).
27. Richard Peters, ed., “An Act Granting Further Time for Locating Military Land Warrants, and for Other Purposes,” The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1845), 271–272.
28. See Michael Hinton, The 100 Minute Bible (Canterbury: The 100-Minute Press, 2007); Lee Cantelon, The Words: Jesus of Nazareth (Grand Rapids: Credo House Publishers, 2007); Phillip Law, The Abridged Bible—from Adam to Apocalypse (London: Continuum, 2006); and many others. Such works have been part of the American religious landscape for generations, including, J. Talboys Wheeler, A Popular Abridgement of New Testament History, for Schools, Families, and General Reading (London: Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co., 1854); and Henricus Oort, Isaac Hooykaas, Abraham Kuenen, and Philip Henry Wicksted, The Bible for Learners (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1898); Caroline Maxwell, The History of the Holy Bible; an Abridgment of the Old and New Testament (London: Harvey and Darton, 1827); Roy B. Chamberlain, The Dartmouth Bible (Houghton Mifflin,1965); Paul Roche, The Bible’s Greatest Stories (New York: Signet Classic, 2001); and others.
29. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, vol. 4 (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), 14.
30. Dickinson W. Adams, Jefferson’s Extracts from the Gospels (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), 28.
31. Charles B. Sanford, The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984).
32. Mark Beliles, Thomas Jefferson’s Abridgement of the Words of Jesus of Nazareth (Charlottesville: Mark Beliles, 1993).
33. Jefferson’s “Bible” The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, ed. Judd Patton (Grove City: American Book Distributors, 1996), xiv, summarizing the 1983 Dickinson W. Adams, Jefferson’s Extracts from the Gospels, which was a reconstruction of Jefferson’s Philosophy of Jesus.
34. Charles B. Sanford, The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984), 189.
35. Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Lipscomb, 15:2.
36. Malone, Jefferson the President, First Term 1801–1805, 4:205.
37. John Maclean, History of the College of New Jersey, from Its Origin in 1746 to the Commencement of 1854, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1877), 364–365.
38. John Witherspoon, “Lectures on Moral Philosophy,” in The Works of John Witherspoon, vol. 3 (Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1802), 367–475.
39. “Officers of Government and Instruction: Instructors,” in Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636–1895 (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1895), 41.
40. Herbert Baxter Adams, Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, issues 1–3, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1888), 158; Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson, 3:467–468.
41. See “Extracts from the Laws of the College of William and Mary,” The History of the College of William and Mary from Its Foundation, 1660 to 1874 (Richmond: J. W. Randolph & English, 1874), 153–162; The Laws of Yale College, in New Haven, in Connecticut, Enacted by the President and Fellows, The Sixth Day of October, A. D. 1795 (New Haven: T & S Green, 1795), 13–14.
42. Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (London: A. Millar, 1759).
43. Richard Price, A Review of the Principal Questions and Difficulties in Morals (London: T. Cadall, 1757).
44. See Benjamin Rush, “An Address to the Ministers of the Gospel of Every Denomination in the United States upon Subjects Interesting to Morals,” in Essays: Literary, Moral, and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Thomas & Samuel Bradford, 1798), 114–124; Benjamin Rush, An Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon the Human Body and Mind, with an Account of the Means of Preventing, and of the Remedies for Curing Them (New York: 1811); Benjamin Rush, an illustration titled “A Moral and Physical Thermometer: Or, a Scale of the Progress of Temperance and Intemperance,” http://ihm.nlm.nih.gov/luna/servlet/detail/NLMNLM~1~1~101449214~157641:A-Moral-and-Physical-Thermometer?printerFriendly=1; Benjamin Rush, “Observations upon the Influence of the Habitual Use of Tobacco upon Health, Morals, and Property,” in Essays: Literary, Moral, and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Thomas & Samuel Bradford, 1798), 263–274; Benjamin Rush, An Inquiry into the Physical Causes upon the Moral Faculty Delivered Before a Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Held at Philadelphia, on the Twenty-Seventh of February, 1796 (Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell, 1839); John Witherspoon, “Lectures on Moral Philosophy” in The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon, vol. 3 (Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1802), 367–475; Noah Webster, A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects (New York: Webster & Clark, 1843).
45. See, for example, Gouverneur Morris, A Diary of the French Revolution, vol. 2 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1939), 172, 452; David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution, vol. 2 (Dublin: William Jones, 1795), 452; Judge William Paterson, United States Oracle (New Hampshire), May 24, 1800, quoted in Maeva Marcus, ed., The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 436; Richard Henry Lee, The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, ed. James Curtis Ballagh, vol. 2 (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1914), 411; John Adams, The Works of John Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams, vol. 9 (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1854), 636; Joseph Story, Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, 43 U.S. 127, 200 (1844); Independent Chronicle (Boston), February 22, 1787; Fisher Ames writing as Camillus, Fisher Ames, The Works of Fisher Ames, ed. Seth Ames, vol. 1 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854), 67; The Speeches of the Different Governors of the Legislature of the State of New York, Commencing with Those of George Clinton and Continued Down to the Present Time (Albany: J. B. Van Steenbergh, 1825), 108; John Adams, John Hancock, Samuel Adams et al., “Declaration of Rights, Part the First, Article III A Constitution or Frame of Government Agreed Upon by the Delegates of the People for the State of Massachusetts (Boston: Benjamin Edes & Sons, 1780), 7; John Sanderson, Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, vol. 4 (Philadelphia; R. W. Pomeroy, 1824), 333, James McHenry in Bernard C. Stei
ner, One Hundred and Ten Years of Bible Society Work in Maryland, 1810-1920 (Baltimore: The Maryland Bible Society, 1921), 14; Daniel Webster, “Remarks to the Ladies of Richmond” in The Works of Daniel Webster, vol. 2 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853), 107–108; and many similar quotes.
46. See The Civil and Executive Officers Assistant (New Haven: Abel Morse, 1793), 254–255; Zephaniah Swift, A System of the Laws of the State of Connecticut (Windham, CT: John Byrne, 1795), 185; The Code of 1650, Being a Compilation of the General Court of Connecticut: Also, the Constitution or Civil Compact, Entered into and Adopted by the Towns of Winsdor, Hartford and Wethersfield in 1638–9. To Which Is Added Some Extracts from the Laws and Judicial Proceedings of New Haven Colony Commonly Called Blue Laws (Hartford: Silas Andrus, 1825), 28–29; The Public Statute Laws of the State of Connecticut, book 1 (Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1808), 295, 304, 480; Oliver H. Prince, Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia (Milledgeville: Grantland & Orme, 1822), 180–186, 349–350, 365–366, 380, 510–512; Laws of the State of Maine (Haldwell: Goodale, Glazier & Co., 1822), 58, 66–68, 71–72; The Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (Boston: T. B. Wait & Co., 1814), 58–61; The Laws of the State of New Hampshire, the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire and the Constitution of the United States with its Proposed Amendments (Portsmouth: John Melcher, 1797), 279, 285; Constitution and Laws of the State of New Hampshire; Together with the Constitution of the United States (Dover: Samuel Bragg, 1805), 267, 275, 278–279, 286, 374; Laws of the State of New York, Comprising the Constitution and Acts of the Legislature Since the Revolution from the First to the Twentieth Session, Inclusive, vol. 1 (New York: Thomas Greenleaf, 1798), 57–60, 336-338, 428; John Haywood, A Manual of the Laws of North Carolina, Arranger Under Distinct Heads in Alphabetical Order (Raleigh: J. Gales, 1814), 65, 264–265, 267; Collinson Read, An Abridgment of the Laws of Pennsylvania, Being a Complete Digest of All Such Acts of Assembly, as Concern the Commonwealth at Large (Philadelphia: Printed for the Author, 1801), 31, 175, 379, 286, 382; Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1810), 26–27, 29, 113; The Public Laws of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, as Revised by a Committee and Finally Enacted by the Honourable General Assembly at their Session in January, 1798 (Providence: Carter and Wilkinson, 1798), 585–586, 594–595; Joseph Brevard, An Alphabetical Digest of the Public Statute Law of South Carolina (Charleston: John Hoff, 1814), 1:99, 2:119, 2;179; James Coffield Mitchell, The Tennessee Justice’s Manual and Civil Officer’s Guide (Nashville: J. C. Mitchell and C. C. Norvell, 1834), 174–186; Statutes of the State of Vermont (Bennington: Anthony Haswell, 1791), 17–18, 50, 155, 265; The Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia; Being a Collection of All Such Acts of the General Assembly, of a Public and Permanent nature, as Are Now in Force, vol. 1 (Richmond: Thomas Ritchie, 1819), 585–586; William Waller Hening, The Virginia Justice, Comprising the Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace, in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Together with a Variety of Useful Precedents, Adapted to the Laws Now in Force (Richmond: Shephard & Pollard, 1825), 155, 548–553; Private and Local Laws Passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-Nine (Madison: James Ross, 1859), 226–227, 334–335.
47. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), 509, from his “Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merits of the Doctrines of Jesus, Compared with Those of Others,” sent with a letter to Benjamin Rush on April 21, 1803.
48. Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Lipscomb, 15:219–220; emphasis added.
49. Ibid., 10:374–375.
50. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, vol. 4 (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), 223; emphasis added. The Christian movements mentioned in this excerpt had each been studied by Jefferson. The Platonists were Christian theologians and ministers who used the philosophy of Plato to prove the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. Plotinists were those who combined the Christian mystical elements of Plotinus (a third-century philosopher) with Plato’s philosophy. Stagyrites were Christians who followed the teachings of Aristotle. Gamaelielites were those Christians who adopted the philosophy of Gamaliel set forth in Acts 5:34-39. Eclectics were the Christians who mixed many elements together—often elements that contradicted each other. Gnostics were those on a never ending search for truth and wisdom. Scholastics were those who followed the teachings of St. Augustine in an effort to resolve ancient philosophical problems with new solutions. This website link has a good summary of Gnosticism: http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm.
51. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, vol. 4 (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), 242.
52. Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Lipscomb, 10:376–377, 12:315, 13:377–378, 14:232–233; Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), 3:506–507, 4:222–226; Thomas Jefferson, The Works of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul Leicester Ford, vol. 12 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1905), 241.
53. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), 4:13–14, 3:509.
54. Ibid., 4:223–224.
55. Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Lipscomb, 14:232–233.
56. Ibid., 14:385.
57. Ibid., 14:386.
58. Ibid., 14:246. See also Marie Kimball, Jefferson: The Road to Glory, 1743 to 1776 (New York: Coward-McCann, 1943), 106–109.
59. Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson, 3: 671–672.
60. See Congressional Record: Containing the Proceedings and Debates of the Fifty-Seventh Congress, First Session; Also Special Session of the Senate, vol. 35 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1902), 5272–5273, 5783–5784.
61. Ibid., 5272.
62. Ibid., 5273.
63. Thomas Jefferson, ed., The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French, and English (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1904), 19.
64. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson’s “Bible”; The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth XV–XVI, ed. Judd Patton (Grove City: American Book Distributors, 1996), xv.
65. Ibid.
66. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, vol. 3 (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), 506.
LIE # 4: THOMAS JEFFERSON WAS A RACIST WHO OPPOSED EQUALITY FOR BLACK AMERICANS
1. Conor Cruise O’Brien, “Thomas Jefferson: Radical and Racist,” Atlantic Monthly, October 1997, accessed October 25, 2011, http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/96oct/obrien/obrien.htm.
2. Stephen E. Ambrose, To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002), 2.
3. “Thomas Jefferson’s Dark Side,” The Abolitionist, February 12, 1997, accessed October 25, 2011, http://afgen.com/jeffersn.html.
4. Stephen J. Lyons. “Thomas Jefferson, Shameless Slavemaster,” review of Negro President by Garry Wills, Chicago Sun-Times, November 16, 2003.
5. James Madison, “Journal of the Constitutional Convention of 1787,” in The Works of James Madison, ed. Gaillard Hunt, vol. 3 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900), July 11–13, 1787, accessed October 25, 2011, http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1935&Itemid=99999999); John Elliot, ed., The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol. 2 (Washington, DC: Printed for the Editor, 1836), 226, June 17, 1788, accessed October 25, 2011, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwed.html; James Madison, Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. In the Convention Held at Philadelphia in 1787, ed. Jonathan Elliot, vol. 5 (Washington, DC: Printed for the Editor, 1845), 181, 295–305, 307– 308, June 11, 1787, July 11–13, 17
87, accessed October 25, 2011, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwed.html.
6. “The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription, Article 1, Section 2,” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, September 17, 1787, accessed October 25, 2011, http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html.
7. “Historical Census Browser,” University of Virginia Library, Census Results for 1790, accessed June 10, 2011, http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/php/state.php.
8. James Madison, Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. In the Convention Held at Philadelphia in 1787, ed. Jonathan Elliot, vol. 5 (Washington, DC: Printed for the Editor, 1845), 392–393.
9. Jonathan Elliot, The Debates of the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Printed for the Editor, 1836), 363.
10. “The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription, Article 1, Section 2,” The U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, September 17, 1787, accessed October 25, 2011, http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html; James Madison, Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. In the Convention Held at Philadelphia in 1787, ed. Jonathan Elliot, vol. 5 (Washington, DC: Printed for the Editor, 1845), 300–301.
11. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, 572-573 (1856) (Curtis, J., dissenting); John Hancock, Essays on the Elective Franchise; or, Who Has the Right to Vote? (Philadelphia: Merrihew & Son, 1865), 22–23.
12. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, ed., vol. 3 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), 35.
13. Fredrick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855), 395–398; Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (Hartford: Park Publishing Company, 1882), 469–470.
14. Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393, 572-573 (1856) (Curtis, J., dissenting); John Hancock, Essays on the Elective Franchise; or, Who Has the Right to Vote? (Philadelphia: Merrihew & Son, 1865), 22–23.
